The Escapades of Three Slytherin Girls
by rainbowspring
Summary: The untold stories of Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis,my OC Arla Paxton, and Astoria Greengrass! Also includes Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, and several other characters. Contains an AstoriaxDracoxPansy love triangle, as well as other pairings!Chapter 16:The girls have their first Muggle Studies class.
1. BRAKE!

**Hey there, thanks for deciding to read my fanfic! Now, I know ****Harry Potter**** takes place in the 1990's, but there will probably be several references to modern day media; mainly for comic relief. Also, the timeline is going to jump around a lot so I'll mention at the beginning of each chapter or in an author's note when the chapter takes place. Right now, our story takes place during The Golden Trio's first year at Hogwarts, right after Christmas break. Please enjoy!**

** Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter,**** or any of the characters in the story, except for my OC Arla Paxton. **

The Escapades of Three Slytherin Girls Chapter 1: BRAKE!

Daphne Greengrass boarded the Hogwarts express, eager to see her friends again and slightly sad at the thought of not being able to see her family again for months. Honestly, Daphne sometimes wondered if the founders of Hogwarts really thought it was a good idea to send eleven year olds away from their parents for the first time and then had to be Sorted in front of hundreds of people; surely the experience, in some cases, could result in therapy, and Daphne was constantly amazed no one she knew had gone to therapy because of it. Still, Hogwarts was amazing though.

As she walked down the train, she finally found the compartment she was looking for and went inside. Inside the compartment sat a witch in her year with curly auburn hair, hazel eyes, and a light spattering of freckles across the face. This girl's name was Arla Paxton and she was, at the moment, waving her wand at the door and muttering incantations under her breath. After Daphne came into the compartment, Arla pointed the wand at the door once more, repeated the incantation, and it locked.

"Where's Tracey?" Arla asked upon noticing Daphne.

"Why, hello to you too," Daphne greeted as she walked over to her friend and gave her bone-squeezing hug. Both girls grinned, obviously glad to be going back to Hogwarts.

"Well, we still have ten minutes before the train leaves," said Arla, peering out the window. "I'm sure Tracey will make it in time."

Daphne's green eyes lit up suddenly, an idea striking her. "Say Arla, how about a bet? I will bet you five galleons that Tracey will miss the train. "

Arla smirked. "You're on."

The minutes passed as the girls talked about their vacations, but Tracey Davis was nowhere in sight. Finally, as the train started to move and it appeared as though Arla had lost the bet, she looked out the window once more and noticed a very thin and petite girl shouting and running to keep up with the train, however it appeared that the train was not going to stop for her. Arla's eyes flickered to one of the walls of their compartment, where the emergency brake rested.

"Arla, what are you-"But Daphne's reply was cut short with a loud _Screech!_ And both Daphne and Arla fell over and slammed against the wall, and slumped onto the floor.

"Okay, I've got just one word for you, Arla," Daphne growled. "Ouch!"

Just then there was a knock on their compartment door and Arla smiled as she saw who I was from the window.

"_Alohomora."_ Arla declared as she pointed her wand towards the door and it swung open.

Tracey Davis stood their beaming at her friends. "Hi, guys!" She greeted cheerfully. "The train just stopped right now, thank goodness, or else I would have missed it and- hey, what happened? "Tracey's onyx eyes scanned the room as she took in Daphne and Arla knocked down on the floor.

"She," Daphne said, pointing to Arla, attempting to make herself look angry but then burst into a fit of giggles. "Okay, I'm not going to lie," She gasped between giggles. "That- was- brilliant!" She shrieked and high-fived Arla.

"Well of course it was, I am the second top student in our year, next to that _Hermione Granger_," Arla said with a sneer. Hermione was Arla's rival a school, and Arla was determined to beat her in grades, but so far that had not happened yet. "Oh, you owe me five galleons, by the way," Arla added to Daphne.

Daphne stared at Arla for a moment, then" What does you being second best I our year have to do with anything?"

"Nothing, I just felt like mentioning it." Arla commented offhandedly, and then reminded Daphne," All right Daph, cough up the galleons now , if you please."

"Fine, Fine." Daphne said with a sigh and handed Arla the money, who accepted it happily.

'Will someone please tell me what happened?" Tracey wailed, the suspense becoming too much for her. Daphne and Arla laughed, but decided to put their friend out of her misery by explaining how they had made a bet about whether or not Tracey would miss tee train.

"So, you honestly thought I would miss the train?" Tracey questioned Daphne. Daphne shrugged.

"What can I say, Tracey? You have been known to be late and forget things before now, and while your imagination is a very fascinating wondrous place, we both know there have been occasions where you may have become a little too caught up in it; the Theodore Nott's Robes Catching on Fire Incident for example…"

"I keep telling you, that was an accident!" Trace blushed.

Daphne nodded. "And we know that; believe me, I'm pretty sure everyone knows that. May Theodore Nott be happy in the afterlife…"

"Uh, Daphne," Arla remarked, staring at Daphne. "Theodore Nott isn't dead."

Daphne's jaw dropped. "You mean he's still alive?"

"Well of course he's still alive," Arla stated incredulously. "How could you not notice that? I mean, that incident happened weeks ago, and he's still been in all of our classes, completely unharmed; his robes weren't even badly singed when that happened. Professor Snape performed an _Aguamenti _spell on him as soon as Tracey's cauldron exploded…"

What was true though was the fact that Tracey was a daydreamer. What had happened at the time was that Tracey had been having a wonderful daydream about bunnies and imps while she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing in Potions and somehow this resulted in her cauldron exploding and sending sparks flying all over the place. Daphne had joked at the time that sparks were literally flying between Tracey and Theodore, though at the time Tracey did not find this particularly amusing, so Daphne dropped the subject until now.

A moment later the conductor of the train marched into their compartment and he did not look happy. "Did any of you young ladies pull this break?" He demanded angrily.

The brake had obviously been pulled, though no one wanted to admit to being the one who pulled it. Under the icy glare of the conductor though, Tracey felt herself shiver as his beady eyes shifted diown at her. Tracey was actually quite shy and easily intimidated, especially by authority figures; she was usually only social and more outgoing when she was talking to her friends and close family members. Therefore, she caved in. "Arla did it!" Tracey cried, pointing at Arla, who now looked outraged. "But please don't expel her! She was only doing it to save me from missing the train! "Tracey started to sob. The conductor was a bit startled at the hysterical pre-teen's reaction, and felt more than a little uncomfortable at making a little girl cry. (Tracey was very short for her age.)

"Oh, all right!" He admitted defeat. "Your friend won't get in trouble, but none of you are permitted to touch that break under any circumstances, understand?"

And after hearing a resounding chorus of "yes sir." The conductor made his way back to the front of the train. As soon as the conductor was out of earshot, Arla locked the door, and the three girls burst into laughter.

"Thanks Tracey, I owe you one," Arla chocked out as she laughed.

"I can't believe that actually worked!" Daphne exclaimed. "I never knew you were such a good actress Tracey!"

Tracey gave a modest embarrassed sort of smile. She really was shy but she was good acting at the same time and had decided to use both of these skills to her advantage.

For the next fifteen minutes or so, the girls talked about what they did over the Winter holidays and what kinds of presents they had received. Arla had gone back home to Ireland; that was where she was born and where both of her parent s lived; although her father had attended Hogwarts and like her had been sorted into Slytherin, her mother was born and raised in Ireland and he had agreed to live there with her when they married. Tracey and Daphne had visited their families over vacation too and talked a little about that as well.

"I got new duck tape for Christmas ," Tracey was saying now as she showed them the duck tape she had brought on board the train. The girls oohed and ahhed over the sight. Tracey was an avid duck tape collector and had managed to obtain some beautiful designs over the holidays. Daphne snapped her fingers suddenly.

"Tracey, cover the window on the compartment door with duck tape!" Daphne snapped her fingers as Tracey did as she was asked.

"Must you snap your fingers at everything?" Arla inquired pleasantly, though with only a faint trace of annoyance being as this was something Daphne did frequently that over time Arla grew to consider a bad habit. Daphne shrugged.

There was a reason for this strange request- or rather command- of Daphne's though. All three of the girls were in Slytherin, but unlike some of their housemates they were not that prejudiced against Muggles and Muggleborns; in fact they weren't prejudiced at all. The only reason Arla disliked Hermione Granger did not have to do with the fact that Hermione was a Muggleborn, but rather mainly that she seemed to beat Arla at everything in school.

Tracey and Arla were both half-blood, though neither Tracey nor Arla had a single parent on either side of their families that were Muggle or Muggleborn. Tracey had a pure-blood witch for a mother, and a half-blood wizard for a father. Both of Arla's parents were both half-bloods.

However, they both knew some things about Muggle Technology and culture and in all honesty had a slight obsession with it. They had both practically had nervous breakdowns the first week into Hogwarts upon finding that none of their Muggle technology worked, being as somehow their parents- despite each girl having at least one parent who had attended Hogwarts- had neglected to tell them that Muggle technology did not work within the walls of Hogwarts.

Meanwhile, Daphne was a Pure-Blood who had never before even heard of Muggle technology and when she found out the cause for Tracey and Arla's source of distress, she could not help but become interested. And it was due to this that the girls formed a plan; they would use their Muggle Technology on the train rides to and from Hogwarts, however they did not wish to get caught by their housemates, so Tracey would duck tape the window on their compartment so no one could see what they were doing, and Arla would lock the door so no one could get in.

Now Daphne was talking about her vacation, and her family, but mainly her younger sister junior to her by two years named Astoria. "Seriously, it was _painful _for me say good bye to 'Stori. She is literally the absolute _cutest_ thing ever! I don't know _how_ I can possibly last another term without her." She sighed. Tracey and Arla listened with interest; neither one of them had ever met the youngest Greengrass sister in person, but Daphne talked about her constantly and had shown them photographs. Arla had informed Tracey once that what Daphne had was known as a "sister complex."

After a while of this though, Tracey suggested looking at their Muggle technology now so that they could use it while they could and talk more about vacations after they reached Hogwarts, to which the other two girls readily agreed. Arla pulled out a laptop from her bag while Daphne watched on in awe. Daphne was usually very talkative, but she fell silent at the sight of Muggle Technology. Though inevitable later on she would always freak out.

Meanwhile, as Arla set the laptop up, Tracey searched her bag for her Muggle electronics, but found none. It was then and there that she remembered that in her haste to catch up with the train she had left her Muggle things in the luggage compartment instead of in her handbag. "Uh, guys, I think I might have left my things on the luggage rack." Tracey gulped. A hushed silence fell. Aboard the Hogwarts express, the luggage rack for belongings one would not need while on the train were placed in a separate car on the train where they would be taken up to the students' dormitories later on. Meaning that there was no way Tracey could obtain her Muggle Technology until after they arrived at Hogwarts, by which time it would be too late, unless…

"I HAVE A PLAN!" Daphne announced loudly, causing Tracey and Arla to fall over in surprise.

"Might you tell it to us in a normal voice?" Arla grumbled.

Daphne ignored her and went on," Tracey, you can go to the edge of our car, and when you give me a signal, I'll pull the brake so you can safely jump across to the other car without having to worry about then cars moving while you jump. Then, you can sneak inside the other car, grab your electronicy-thingies, jump back, and return to our compartment. Meanwhile, Arla you can go out to the trolley to buy something so no one will be able to say you pulled the brake, an after I pulled the brake, I'll sneak on over to the bathroom so if anybody interrogates me about it, I'll say I was in the bathroom at the time. "

A stunned silence fell before Arla whispered," you know, that could actually work."

And so it was that the three girls followed this plan. When Tracey had reached the end of the train she put she flashed Daphne a peace sign; tis was to be their signal. Meanwhile back inside the compartment, Daphne had an insane sort of grin plastered across her face.

_I've always wanted to do this_; she thought to herself and then yelled loudly as she pulled down the handle," BRAKE!" The train stopped abruptly. Once it stopped, Daphne ran out of the compartment and in the excitement no one seemed to notice her. Tracey opened the door that separated the gap between the two cars and jumped across. After gathering her electronics, she raced back inside the other car and headed back to her compartment, along with Daphne and Arla. On the way back, they were interrogated once more by the conductor, though the three girls were able to support each other in that they were not their when the brake was pulled so it cold no have been them. (Tracey lied that she had gone to the bathroom too.) After being left by the conductor, the girls locked the door and were finally able to relax with their Muggle electronics before they got to Hogwarts. After a couple of hours or so, Tracey could not help but let her eyes wander over to the emergency break while Arla and Daphne laughed over some computer video they were watching.

_I better not touch that brake,_ Tracey thought to herself. _I bet if I just extend my hand ever so slightly, I still wouldn't be able to touch it. _Tracey extended her arm a bit further. _See? Nothing. Just a little more…_

Still nothing transpired. Tracey pondered this for a moment; she could probably stretch her arm out all the way, she mused, with her fingertips just inches from the brake and still nothing would happen. Tracey proceeded to try this. Meanwhile Daphne and Arla were laughing harder than ever at the video they were watching, shaking in their seats. Daphne punched Arla's arm lightly, and Arla squeezed hers playfully back.

_Slowly… Slowly…_ Tracey told herself, and just when her fingers were centimeters from the emergency brake, she pulled back. _That's as far as I dare to- _

Tracey's thoughts were interrupted by something –or rather, someone- crashing into her-

…_go._ Tracey completed that thought, only to find the train came to a complete stop. Looking up, she found that Daphne had crashed into her; Arla must have pushed Daphne too hard, causing Daphne to crash into Tracey, and for Tracey's hand to slip and pull the emergency brake.

_ Oh no…_ Right at that moment Tracey found the door to their compartment slide open, and out stepped the conductor. Tracey and her friends tried to splutter an explanation, but the conductor would not hear it, and separated Tracey away from her friends and into a compartment by herself for the rest of the journey, and assured her he would be talking to the Head of her House. Daphne and Arla stared after Tracey mournfully and apologetically, though Tracey comforted herself with the thought that at least the conductor let her bring her Muggle electronics with her.

**Note: I actually do like Hermione, I think she's a great role model for young girls- and just people in general- to look up to; in fact, she's one of my favorite characters. It's just that Arla doesn't like Hermione being as she beats Arla in everything at Hogwarts, and as we could gather from Arla actually stopping the train just so she could win the bet, she clearly dislikes losing and being second best; so any Hermione bashing coming from Arla is not my own personal opinion about Hermione. More of that will be elaborated later on…**

**Anyway, the purpose of this chapter was mainly for exposition, to get to know the personalities of the three main characters in this fic, which may come into play later on, and give a bit of an idea of what sort of antics these three will be up to in other chapters. Next chapter will introduce some other characters though, and may be a little more action packed… I'm not going to say any more other than that. What will happen next time? You'll have to read and review to find out! Please review! **


	2. Sisters, Smuggling,Sleeping potions

**To all those who have reviewed, added this story to favorites, or story alerts, thank you all so much! *hands out cyber thank you cards* Now, this chapter takes place in the beginning of second year, once again on the train ride to Hogwarts, though the setting of most of the chapters after this will take place when the girls are actually **_**at**_** Hogwarts.**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own ****Harry Potter,**** or any of the characters in the story, except for my OC Arla Paxton.**

Chapter 2: Smuggling Sisters aboard the Hogwarts Express is Never Easy

Tracey Davis eagerly skipped down the halls of the Hogwarts Express until she found the compartment she was looking for and slid the door to it open; she knew this was the correct compartment being as Arla Paxton was seated inside.

"Why is it that you are always the first one on here?" Tracey asked as she stepped inside, wondering about her friend's punctual nature. Arla responded with a shrug. The girls had made it an unwritten rule amongst them that, due to Arla's habit of turning up early for things, whenever they were planning on meeting each other aboard the train and just in general for that matter, they would simply go to wherever Arla was.

Meanwhile Arla was faced with a familiar sense of déjà vu, recalling when Daphne had asked her a similar question once. "Doesn't anyone just say hello anymore?" She grumbled, but then stood up and gave Tracey a hug. Then a thought occurred to her.

"Say, I just realized something," Arla said once they had broken apart. "Tracey, no offense, but you're usually late for thins and are the last one to get here; why isn't Daphne here yet?"

"It's my new goal this year," Tracey explained excitedly. "My resolution for this school year is to be more punctual and less forgetful. As for Daphne, I don't know where she is; maybe she's just having trouble finding the right compartment?"

Arla nodded, finding this a very possible theory. Then a proud smile twitched her lips as she replied," This year, I resolve to beat Hermione Granger for being top of the class. I assure you Tracey, by the time this school year is out, I will have scored higher than Hermione Granger, or anyone else for that matter, on my final exams. Why, if I put my mind to it, I bet I can beat her in every subject!" Arla declared determinedly. Arla turned to Tracey beaming, waiting for her friend's response to that radical resolution.

"Your freckles make you look pretty when you smile, Arla." Tracey said randomly after a moment's pause. "Did you get any more of them over the summer?"

"Tracey, did you even listen to a word I just said?" Arla deadpanned.

"Of course I did," Tracey answered smartly. "You just said you were going to beat Hermione Granger in school this year. Good for you. Seriously though, did you get any more freckles over the summer, or was that just my imagination a moment ago?"

In reality, Tracey had blanked out after "This year, I resolve…" being as the late summer heat was making her dizzy coupled with the fact that she was distracted by Arla's freckles; Tracey couldn't help but notice the most random things at times and felt the need to share them out loud when she was with her friends.

"Well Tracey, while it's true that I typically have more freckles during the warmer months of the year, they usually fade away a bit as the weather becomes cooler, but they come back again in the spring and summer. In answer to your question: No, I have not, or rather if I did; I only got a couple more than usual." Arla finally finished.

Tracey nodded, having once again tuned out but had heard the last sentence.

"Arla, has anyone ever told you that when the sun hits your hair a certain way, you look like a Weas- I mean, um, a ginger?" Tracey corrected herself quickly. She had almost said " you look like a Weasley " but had stopped herself in the nick of time, instead saying ginger being as that was what she had initially meant when she almost said "Weasley." That might not have gone down very good, being as Ron Weasley was a friend of Hermione Granger's, and chances were she would not like to be told she resembled a friend of Hermione's.

Arla stared at her friend and sighed. "Tracey, my hair is auburn, meaning that it is a mixture of red with some brown. In the summer it just happens to look redder than it does in the winter. More importantly though, we saw each other over the summer, so this isn't your first time seeing my face and hair like this. Any more questions?"

Before Tracey could reply the train whistle blew, and right at that moment Daphne stepped in, carrying something heavy.

"Did somebody say Daphne Greengrass?" She announced.

"No," Said Arla.

"No," Said Tracey.

Daphne pouted and lugged her bags over to her seat, went back to shut the door, and sat down next to them. "Tracey, did you get your hair cut?"

" Yeah I did," Tracey informed them, rubbing her black hair slightly. "Do you like it?"

After the girls assured Tracey they did, Arla commented," What took you so long Daphne? Another minute and the train would have left without you."

"_These,"_ Daphne stated proudly as she opened her carryon bag that she had slung oiver her shoulder."Are what took me so long." Daphne pulled out a pair of heavy looking stiletto orange high heels from her bag she had brought with her and passed them around. "My aunt gave these to me as a late birthday present, but they're actually a lot heavier than they look and are far too big for me, and I don't want a repeat of the last time I wore high heels…" Silence fell as all three girls cringed at the memory. daphne placed the footwear back into her bag.

"Daphne, why did a sock just fall out of your bag?" Tracey queried.

"What-?" Arla stared at Tracey quizzically for a moment before noticing that a sock had fell out of Daphne's bag. Arla had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach at this. "Daphne, what else is in there-" Arla moved toward the bag, but Daphne snapped it shut in an instant.

"Well, I can't show you Arla," she huffed indignantly. "There are not only socks but _underclothing_ in there! Sheesh!" She proclaimed, as if this should have been obvious.

"Why would those things be in there?" Tracey stared blankly.

Daphne grinned maniacally. "This," she she opened her rather large trunk as she spoke," is why."

A young girl fell out of Daphne's trunk. Tracey screamed while Arla actually fell out of her seat.

"I love her to death, but _Lord _is she heavy." Daphne was saying casually. "I'm not calling her fat or anything, but who knew how much strength I would have to muster just to smuggle my sister aboard the Hogwarts Express, am I right? There wasn't even enough room in here for all of our clothes, so I had to put some of our things in my carry on. By the way, my shoes are not heavy enough to interfere with carrying my luggage; I just brought them along to see if anyone would believe me when I said they slowed me down- what's wrong?"

"You- brought- your – sister- with- you?" Arla choked out between gasps while Tracey continued to scream.

Daphne nodded in response, pulled out a sheet of paper, some tape, and taped the paper to the window on the door so that no one could see inside. Then turning to Tracey, she added," Tracey if you don't shut up I will have no choice but to tape your mouth shut. I really don't want to do that, but I will if I have to. Everybody calm down."

"Calm down," Tracey shrieked shrilly, with a sort of hysterical sarcasm." Oh yes, of course I'll calm down, there is nothing at all unusual or wrong about sneaking your younger sister into Hogwarts!"

"I'm glad you understand," Daphne said in a tone of voice, though with a much calmer level of sarcasm. " Look, I will explain. First of all though Tracey, I have a question for you: Are you a Seer? How did you know I was planning on sneaking Astoria into Hogwarts?"

Tracey blinked in confusion. "Aren't you? I just assumed that's what you had in mind, so…" _Maybe there actually is a safe reason Astoria is here with us. _Tracey prayed silently.

"Oh, that's exactly what I had in mind!" Daphne assured her. Tracey almost fainted.

"Look, last year I had you two as friends, and I am grateful for that," Daphne said quietly, which was very rare indeed considering how loud Daphne normally was. "But I still missed Astoria terribly. I don't think I could stand another year without her; I always did say Hogwarts is a therapy inducing experience for some. Besides, Astoria really wanted to go last year and was sorry she still couldn't go this year, so I thought, 'why not take us both? It will save our parents money on the counseling we would need if we were separated for another year, at any rate.' And anyway, Astoria will be old enough to start next year; she might as well go now."

Silence fell at this, and in this time Arla and Tracey stared at Astoria on the floor. She appeared to be sleeping peacefully, a small smile gracing her lips. Unlike Daphne, Astoria had long jet black hair, whereas Daphne was a sun kissed blonde. Both Tracey and Arla had been curious about meeting the younger Greengrass sister for the first time; they had seen photographs Daphne had shown them, and she had talked about Astoria constantly. But words were not enough to really know Astoria, and the photographs they had seen of her were just that: Photographs. Nothing more and nothing less. Wizarding photographs were in black and white, so they had been able to gather that she had dark hair, white skin, and dimples in some of the photographs when her smile was particularly big, but that was it. Tracey wondered what color Astoria's eyes were.

Tracey was the first one of them brave enough to ask the question though. "Daphne… why is Astoria… sleeping?" Tracey sincerely hoped Astoria was sleeping and not unconscious because Daphne had knocked her out in order to sneak her aboard.

"Okay, so here's what happened," Daphne began, and Arla had a sinking feeling her stomach that this was going to be a long story. " You know how my father makes and sells potions in his spare time, right?"

The other girls nodded; it was common knowledge that Mr. Greengrass was a respected Potion Maker*, though this was not necessary; it was equally common knowledge that the Greengrass', like the Malfoys, were a family of wealthy purebloods whom were well off enough that it was unnecessary for them to have jobs. Still, Mr. Greengrass enjoyed brewing potions from time to time, and was quite good at it too.

Daphne went on," Well, I snuck into his Potions Cupboard, and stole a Dreamless Sleep Potion from there. My parents were in a hurry this morning, so I slipped all of the potion in the bottle into Astoria's grape juice. She fell fast asleep, but I expect she'll wake up in a couple of hours…

"Anyway, so then I packed Astoria's things along with my own, and I put Astoria in the trunk. My parents didn't notice she was gone, so I brought her in here, you guys freaked out, I explained all of this to you, and here we are now. I hope Astoria will be pleased when she wakes up, she told me last night she would do anything to go, and I said, 'We'll just see, Astoria' and left her with that."

"So, you pretty much snuck your sister a sleeping potion without telling her or anyone in your family for that matter, packed her in your trunk with you, and are now trying to smuggle her into Hogwarts." Arla summed up in disbelief. "So tell me, have you told the school about this?"

"No…" Daphne admitted sheepishly.

"What are you going to do with her when we get to Hogwarts?" Arla demanded.

"I was thinking of keeping her in our dormitory," Daphne defended. "I've asked the school several times to let her enroll early, but they keep saying she's too young. I was going to hide her in our dorm for a few days, bring her meals from the Great Hall, and teach her what I learned last year until I am able to convince the school board to let her stay there. I won't tell them she's already there though, of course." Daphne finished triumphantly.

Arla shook her head and stood up, making way for the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" Daphne questioned, surprised by this gesture.

"I'm sorry Daphne," Arla stated coolly. " But I am not going along with this crazy scheme of yours; it is only destined for trouble. I am not getting involved this time. I only hope that you have the sense to stop while you can; come on Tracey, let's go." Arla motioned to Tracey to follow. Tracey shifted uncomfortably as Daphne gave her puppy dog eyes.

"_Please,_ Tracey," she pleaded.

Tracey ran to join Arla, unable to handle the pressure.

"Remember, we're only doing this because we care about you," Arla reminded Daphne as she opened the door. "It's for your own good. We aren't going to snitch, but I hope you learn a lesson from all of this. Good bye."

And with that being said Tracey and Arla left the compartment.

Daphne ran out after them, howling, "DON'T YOU TWO LOVE ME ANYMORE?" This created quite a few odd looks sent her way from some students walking down the corridor, who glanced at the deranged expression she was wearing, and ran off in the opposite direction.

A moment later the door to a nearby compartment opened and out stepped Blaise Zabini.

"Greengrass, what are you doing _now_?" Daphne Greengrass could have recognized the familiar disdainful tone of Blaise Zabini anywhere.

"Oh, hey Blaise how was your summer?" Daphne decided the best way was to act natural so he would not suspect anything.

Blaise ignored her. "Greengrass, I am trying to enjoy my train ride to Hogwarts in peace so if you would just- Greengrass, why is there a girl lying on the floor?" Daphne had left the compartment door ajar and low and behold Astoria lay sleeping on the ground. Daphne took one look from Blaise to Astoria, reached into her carryon bag she still had slung on her shoulder, and promptly whacked Blaise on the head with the backs of her high heels.

Blaise fell to the floor, unconscious. A moment later Theodore Nott stepped out of the compartment Blaise had come from, took in Daphne raising her stilettos in the air, Blaise lying on the floor, stepped back inside his compartment, and shut the door behind him.

Daphne dragged Blaise's unconscious body inside, and shut the door. _Don't panic, don't panic, _she told herself firmly_. You just knocked out Blaise Zabini, no big deal…. MERLIN'S PANTS I KNOCKED OUT BLAISE ZABINI! _

Daphne glanced down at Blaise and Astoria on the floor. Carefully, she lifted up Astoria gently and placed her back in the trunk, which she then shut. After that, she mulled over what to do to Blaise. Perhaps when he woke up he might not have remembered what he had seen, but she didn't want to take any chances on that. She did not know how to _obliviate_ a person's memory yet, so that was out of the question. What to do, what to do….

Daphne dragged Blaise Zabini's unconscious body out into the hallway. Right at that moment Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle chose to walk down that corridor and stopped short upon noticing her carrying Zabini's body. Draco's grey eyes narrowed as he took in the scene before him.

"Greengrass, why are you moving Zabini's unconscious body around with you?"

Daphne did not know how to answer that question.

"Is he dead?" Goyle said dumbly.

"Goyle, of course he's not dead," Draco snapped, rolling his eyes, though soon after he did so he glanced at Zabini once more, as though questioning that conclusion.

But right now there was something more startling that Daphne had noticed.

"Goyle," she breathed. "You can _talk_?"

"Well, why couldn't he," Draco said in exasperation.

Daphne shrugged. "I don't know I just never heard him speak before… anyway, I'll see you all later! Bye!"

Daphne was about to turn to the other direction, when Draco called loudly," Greengrass, your trunk!"

Daphne faced Draco again, pretending to be confused. " What trunk?" Daphne tried to fix her eyes away from her trunk that lay inside the open compartment.

"The trunk inside your compartment Greengrass," Draco began when suddenly the trunk turned over. Daphne sweat dropped. Astoria had always had a habit of moving around in her sleep… why had she not thought if this sooner?

"Greengrass, did your trunk just _move_?" Draco walked over to investigate, but Daphne stepped in front of the doorway, blocking him.

"Jeez Malfoy," she feigned disgust." What is so fascinating about my trunk? Do _not _tell me you were going to look through it, were you? That is so rude!" Daphne slid the door shut behind her, ignoring Draco's protests. And with that being said, Daphne lulled Blaise into the compartment next door, which just happened to be the one Theodore Nott and Blaise had been in earlier.

Theodore looked up from the book he was reading as Daphne entered, and closed the door behind her. He raised an eyebrow as Daphne dragged Blaise in and waited expectantly.

"Hey Nott," Daphne greeted sheepishly, stretching her arms, which were slightly sore from moving Blaise. "So, um, here's the thing: when Blaise wakes up, he might say some strange things… I need you to convince him that he just hit his head in here or something, and that anything he might think have happened, are only his imagination. Please?"

Daphne gave him a -puppy dog pound- sort of look. Nothing happened. Sighing, Daphne reached into her pockets, and pulled out two heavy brown sacs that, when she opened them, contained Galleons, Sickles and Knuts. Daphne had a total amount of roughly about 20 Galleons on her at the moment, which would have been more than enough to buy food off the cart for both her, Astoria, and still have some money left over in case of an emergency.

"How much?" She stated dully.

Theodore held up ten fingers.

Daphne handed him ten Knuts.

Theodore gave her an -are you kidding me- sort of look.

"Fine," Daphne grumbled, and handed him ten Sickles as a joke.

This time Theodore shot her a -this is getting ridiculous- sort of look.

"Here," Daphne slapped down ten Galleons this time. "Happy? "

Theodore evidently was quite content, judging by his nod of agreement, and when Daphne mimed zipping her lips and tossing her hand back, Theodore did the same.

"Thanks, Theo," Daphne squealed as she gave him a hug.

"Don't touch me," Theodore responded curtly, and Daphne retreated at once. On her way out, she reflected that, although she had spent just more than half of the money she had with her at the moment, there was still another 40 galleons or so she had, though about thirty of them were in the other car on the train, where the rest of her luggage not containing Astoria was. She briefly considered trying to get it, but figured that just fewer than ten Galleons should be enough for the both of them. Speaking of which, shouldn't Astoria be waking up by now?

As it turned out, Astoria did not wake up when the train pulled into Hogwarts, so Daphne kept her in her trunk. Daphne saved her left overs for Astoria once she had woken up, though she was a bit concerned that that had not happened yet. Daphne received some strange looks in her direction; Blaise Zabini stared at her for a moment, and Draco Malfoy eyed the trunk, though neither boy commented for once: it was very likely they simply did not want to get involved.

Daphne sat next to Arla and Tracey in the Great Hall at her usual seat, though a somewhat awkward silence fell between them, and all three were very glad once The Sorting had started. After the Sorting, Arla whispered to Daphne out of the corner of her mouth, "How'd it go?"

Daphne smirked, though inside she was a bit nervous. "Fine," she replied "Better than fine, actually."

"Has she waken up yet?" Tracey added in an undertone, joining in on the conversation.

"Uh…" Daphne's eyes glazed over at the delicious food that lay before them. "Let's eat, shall we?"

Arla and Tracey exchanged knowing looks, but happily dug into their food. Astoria never woke up during dinner, much to Daphne's relief, being that although she had hoped for Astoria to have waken up on the train so she could inform her about what was going on, at least now maybe even though they were already at Hogwarts, she could find a way to tell Astoria about this in private, once she had hid her in the dorm.

Daphne made her way along with Tracey, Arla, Millicent Bulstrode, and Pansy Parkinson, down to the Slytherin Girls' Dormitories. Upon entering their dormitory, Daphne peeked into her trunk to find Astoria still sleeping, and closed it. Pansy, Daphne's -sometimes friend, other times just acquaintance-, was quick to catch this though.

"Say Daphne," questioned suspiciously ;after all, though the two girls did not bare any serious levels of hatred or maliciousness towards one another, Pansy still knew this was Daphne she was speaking to, of course, "What's in that trunk?"

"Um, nothing!" Daphne quipped, right at the moment that Millicent opened the trunk, and accidentally knocked it over in surprise. Astoria came falling out of the trunk, provoking Pansy to scream.

"Now Pansy," Daphne assured her," it's all right, just calm down-"

"_Calm down?" _Pansy shrieked. "_A girl just fell out of your trunk and you want me to calm down!" _

When Daphne's silence- which was probably wise in this situation- was her answer, Pansy went on," Who is she anyway?"

"This," Daphne stated proudly, pointing at Astoria's still sleeping figure," is my sister, Astoria."

"I don't care who she is, "Pansy exclaimed, despite she being the one to ask the question," What is she doing here?"

"I'm going to be hiding her here in our dormitory." Daphne mentioned casually.

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Pansy cried, as she marched out of the room. "No little girl, regardless of how pure her blood may be, is going to be sharing _my_ dormitory when she's not even old enough to be going to Hogwarts!"

"Told you she'd take that well," Arla muttered to Tracey, who nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, Millicent stayed silent as usual.

"Hey Daphne," Tracey piped up "How long is Astoria going to stay asleep?" Daphne said nothing.

"How long as she been asleep?" Arla queried a sinking felling brewing inside her.

"Well, I snuck her the potion this morning, so that would have been around breakfast time, and she hasn't woken up since, so…" Daphne gulped." About ten or eleven hours by now, I guess."

"How much of the Dreamless Sleep Potion did you give her?" Arla asked tentatively.

"Well, I gave her most of the bottle," Daphne said skittishly. "Why?"

"How long did you intend for her to stay asleep?" Arla inquired, the sinking feeling growing stronger now.

"About 3-4 hours," Daphne replied, heart rate quickening. "She was supposed to have woken up when we were on the train!"

Arla groaned. "Daphne, you should have only given her a couple of table spoons at most! People aren't even supposed to take that kind of potion unless they have serious cases of insomnia or have just experienced a traumatic experience or an injury! If you gave her most of the bottle, she could be out for days, weeks, or even months!"Then Arla said in a quiet voice," Actually, if she doesn't see medical care soon, she might not even wake up at all."

Right at that moment Pansy came back into the room. "Professor Snape is waiting for you in the common room," she informed Daphne. "And he wants you to bring your sister with you," she added as Daphne slung Astoria over her shoulder, and ran out.

_Oh Merlin, _Daphne thought, leaving before Pansy could even finish speaking to her. _What have I done? Have I endangered Astoria's… life?_ As soon as she saw professor Snape, she burst into tears before he even opened his mouth. "Sir," she sobbed. "We need to take Astoria to the Hospital Wing right away. I- I think I may have accidentally given her an overdose of a sl-sl- sleeping potion!"

Daphne didn't wait for Snape to say anything, and instantly ran out of the common room, with Snape following after her.

"How is she?" Daphne asked Madame Pomfrey, now sitting in the hospital wing by Astoria's bedside.

"She'll be fine," the matron replied in an assuring tone of voice as Daphne cried tears of relief. "She was never in any serious danger, actually. " The nurse went on, after some of Daphne's sobs had subsided. " She will wake up in merely a couple of days time. if you had given her multiple bottles of the Dreamless Sleep Potion, that may be another story, but since it was only one, she would have been asleep for no more than a few days."

Madame Pomfrey frowned slightly after she finished talking. "Though I must admit, that certainly was a rather foolish thing to do to your sister, Miss Greengrass, regardless of whatever your intentions may have been. Your parents have been notified, and will arrive at the school in the morning to retrieve your sister." She shook her head. "Though how they could not have noticed she was missing I cannot imagine, and as for why they do not simply come right now, even though it is the middle of the night…" but she stopped her train of thought. "Go now, Miss Greengrass. The Headmaster has instructed you to return to your dormitory until your parents arrive."

Daphne nodded, and returned to her dormitory, feeling slightly hollow. As soon as she entered the room, all of its residents ran to interrogate her.

"Is she going to be all right?"

"How much trouble are you in?"

One everyone finally quieted down, Daphne explained. "My parents are coming in the morning and Dumbledore's already spoken to me. He says he is going to decide what my punishment should be once my parents arrive. Astoria's going to go home then; I don't know if I will too."

A hushed silence fell. Tracey realized," Wait a minute. Why aren't your parents getting here now? Surely they've been worried out of their minds?"

"They didn't notice." Daphne's voice had become cold and clipped, and very unlike herself. "And they don't want to waste a minute of their precious beauty sleep, it seems."

"How could they have possibly not noticed?" Arla breathed in disbelief, after a speechless silence. "What kind of-"

"They just didn't, okay." Daphne snapped. The room was so quiet one could have heard a pin drop. Daphne decided to break the silence by changing the subject. "So, how about Harry Potter and that flying car?"

Astoria Greengrass was sent home the next morning with her parents. Daphne was given an irate scolding from each of her parents, and Snape assigned her weekly detentions for about a month, but that was that. Astoria Greengrass was put to bed, and when she woke up the following morning she had no recollection of the past two days before.

**And that's chapter two! The main purpose of this chapter was to introduce more characters, and show their relationships with one another. Explanations for these reactions and relationships will be further explained and expanded on later on. Also, a couple of incidents were mentioned in this chapter that I have not wrote yet, but plan to include later on as well. **

**About Daphne's punishment, I know it might seem like she got off easy, but when you consider the stuff that Harry and his friends have done in the past and have gotten away with, and that Snape was the one giving out punishments and would not want to punish a student belonging to his house too severely, I think that at Hogwarts this would probably be the most likely result in this situation. Also, for those curious about Tracey's new haircut mentioned in this chapter, go to Google Images and type in Yuzuriha Nekoi: That's sort of the style I imagine that her hair is cut. **

***As for Mr. Greengrass' profession, I do not know if this is the correct term for it, but I think it is: When I was researching this, I did not come across any other words for it. **

**Most importantly though: Please review! **


	3. Exploding Cauldrons

**Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, added this story to favorites or alerts, and has read it! *hands out cyber fruit baskets* These next couple of chapters are going to be flashbacks to events mentioned during the past two chapters; like I said, the timeline's going to jump around a lot. Right now, this chapter takes place during our trio's first year…**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own ****Harry Potter,**** or any of the characters in the story, except for my OC Arla Paxton.**

Chapter 3: Exploding Cauldrons

The Slytherins walked down to the dungeons for Potions class, an air of icy early December wind and an air of excitement coming with them as they entered the dungeons. Potions was always an … interesting class, for lack of a better word. There was the fact that they were brewing potions of course, but there were other reasons why the Slytherins tended to be so curious about what would happen every time they went to their Potions lesson. One reason was that it was one of the few subjects where more than one person besides Hermione Granger was able to be arguably better at Potions than Arla was: actually, three people were better than her in this class.

The person in the class of Gryffindor and Slytherin first years whom did the best in that subject was, as usual, Hermione Granger. This was no surprise. What _was _surprising however was that that second best was: Daphne Greengrass.

Daphne was excellent at Potions due to the fact that her father was a Potioneer, and she had spent many afternoons observing him when she could, and he had even taught her a few things: no daughter of his was going to grow up completely ignorant in the art of potion making.

Third best in the class was Draco Malfoy, who had demonstrated skill at potion making since their first class. Then, fourth was Arla. After her was Theodore Nott.

Due to this, there always seemed to be some competitiveness in Potions, and though the Slytherins were determined to best the Gryffindors, often times there seemed to be more competitiveness amongst the Slytherins themselves, rather than amongst the class as a whole. In fact, at the moment the Slytherins were having a discussion about their day's plan for this lesson.

"This time, I _will_ beat Hermione Granger!" Arla announced, her light Irish accent coming out due to her spiritedness of the moment. "_I_'_m _going to be top of this class!"

"Oh, you really think so, do you?" Malfoy sneered. "I'd like to see you try, Paxton. I'd like to remind you that I happen to be above you in this subject. Do I need to say more?"

"And I'd like to remind you, Malfoy," Daphne chimed in. "That _I _happen to be above _all _of you, with the exception of Hermione Granger. And I only have one thing to say: Malfoy, you're going DOWN!" Daphne declared, swooping her hands down in a diving motion.

Malfoy opened his mouth to make a retort, when Blaise reminded them," You're all forgetting the main objective: to beat the Gryffindors. Instead of focusing on beating each other, focusing on beating Granger. "Blaise lectured. " It is important we beat the Gryffindors, especially after how they humiliated us at Quiddich last time, if you all recall…"

"We would have won if I were on the team though," Draco complained. "I am a superb flyer and could have beaten Potter any day… If I had my way, first years-"

But this was all friendly competition amongst the Slytherins; or rather, as friendly as Slytherins ever got. Potions wasn't fun for all Slytherins though, nor were they all skilled in it. Potions was one of the hardest subjects for Tracey. There were only four other people in the class, in Tracey's mind, whom were worse than her: Crabbe, Goyle, Seamus Finnegan, and Neville Longbottom.( Though Tracey had to admit Neville tried very hard and even though he was in Gryffindor, could not help but sympathize with him on that.)

Tracey was always a bit nervous during Potions, because even though Professor Snape favored Slytherins over the Gryffindors so that meant he treated her better than he would have if she were in Gryffindor, she still felt slightly intimidated by him; there was something very bat-like about his movements….

Her main problem with Potions though, had nothing to do with nervousness or pressure. Her main problem was this: that she simply couldn't stop daydreaming. Tracey was a dreamer, through and through. She knew that that in itself wasn't a bad thing, but it did make life difficult for her when she wasn't paying attention sometimes, and for some reason her mind just seemed to wander more when she was in Potions….

Professor Snape finally walked into the room and silence fell instantaneously. As Snape droned on about what the lesson for the day was, Tracey tried to pay attention but her mind couldn't help but wander over to a sight she had seen yesterday.

She had been outside in the courtyard, listening to Daphne and Arla debating over whether which Quiddich team was better: England's National Quiddich Team or Ireland's National Quiddich Team. The argument had been fairly heated at first, and Tracey had been on the edge of her seat, but after a time she found the same thing to be rather tiring and instead had decided to take in her scenery.

Snow had been on the ground at the time, and Tracey had been attempting to see if she could determine the exact shade of white it was, when a rabbit hopped by into a bush. Tracey actually got up to chase after it, but it ran too far ahead for her to find it. Meanwhile, Daphne and Arla had been so preoccupied with their conversation that they hadn't even noticed Tracey had briefly left.

Tracey was remembering all of this now as she gathered the materials she would need for the day's potion. _Where_,she wondered to herself._ Did that little rabbit run off to? Does it have a family all of its own; does it have a spouse and children? No, that's crazy talk! Rabbits can't marry! … Wait a moment, shouldn't that be crazy thinking instead, being as I'm not actually saying any of this out loud… Oh Good Merlin, how embarrassing would that be! _

At this Tracey stole a quick glance around the room, and was very much relieved to find that no one seemed to notice her, so therefore it was unlikely in the extreme that she had talked. She went back to her thoughts as she had to squint to read the instructions on the board. _Snape's handwriting is so tiny! Why does he have to write so small? Oh! I just thought of someone else who has really small handwriting: The Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Professor Quirrell!I don't know how some people can have such miniscule handwriting, I mean my handwriting's huge! I sure do love to write though…_

_Today in D.A.D.A. we learned about imps, they sound so fascinating! Maybe I'll write a story about imps! And bunnies! A story about imps and bunnies who all have to live in harmony together in order to survive…_

As Tracey brewed her potion, she was only half aware of what she was doing, so caught up was she in her daydream. After a while though, it came to her attention that something must be wrong when she started to smell smoke, and seconds later her cauldron spontaneously combusted into flames.

Tracey let out a shriek of terror and dived onto the floor, crawling under tables until she was well away from her own cauldron. Most people whom were close to her were able to move away in time, but others were not so lucky. Theodore Nott, who was seated right next to Tracey, had the sleeve of his robes catch on fire as a loud _BOOM! _ echoed throughout the room and pieces of her cauldron scattered across the room, some of which were still on fire.

Theodore let out a yell, and Snape swooped to his side, bat like as ever, and extinguished the flame with a quick,"_Aguamenti!" _He then proceeded to extinguish the fire emitted by Tracey's cauldron exploding, and as a result the only damage done were the sleeves of Theodore's robes being a bit singed, though he himself remained completely unharmed.

Tracey gulped nervously, as all eyes in the room were on her. She silently sincerely suspected her face might at that exact moment have been hotter than her exploding cauldron. "I- I'm sorry!" She squeaked, not liking all of the attention she was getting as most of the Gryffindors and even some of the Slytherins cracked up laughing; now that crisis had been averted. "I didn't intend for that to happen sir, I swear! I didn't mean to make Theodore Nott's robes catch on fire sir, and I didn't plan on my cauldron exploding like that, I was just-"

"That will do, Miss Davis, that will do," Snape said dismissively, with a wave of his hand and the class fell silent upon seeing the quelling look he had on his face. "In the future, I would advise you to be more careful next time. Now, back to work all of you!"

As class returned to normal, Tracey breathed a mental sigh of relief. Had she been in any other house besides Slytherin, she knew, the consequences would be far more deadly. Still, it did sting a little when Theodore Nott moved his cauldron a little further away from her. Not that she could blame him, though.

As the Slytherins left the dungeons, to go to lunch, Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle, Millicent, Draco, and even Blaise Zabini were still chortling about the whole thing.

"Hey Davis," Malfoy said once they had all stopped laughing. "That whole scene back there was very impressive, but please, try _not _to practice any Potions during lunch; the ideas of food and explosions mixed in doesn't sound particularly appealing to me." Everyone except for Tracey and Theodore howled with laughter at this. Actually, the corners of Nott's face twitched slightly at this. Even Daphne and Arla, who had not said a word about the incident or even giggled, could not help but laugh a bit at this.

"_Girls!"_Tracey whined to the two of them.

"Sorry Tracey," Arla apologized as she calmed down and all of the laughter from the Slytherins had faded away. "But it really was good entertainment value; and that last thing Malfoy said really was funny, we couldn't help it. Still though, at least Snape didn't give you a zero for the day, or yell or make fun of you in front of the whole class." Arla reminded Tracey, trying to cheer her up as they entered the Great Hall.

"Look on the bright side Tracey," Daphne added as they sat down. "At least you can give Seamus Finnegan a run for his money at something; now we're one up on Gryffindor in terms of spontaneous combustion and exploding cauldrons! That, I tell you, is the secret to winning the house cup!" Tracey couldn't help but grin at this, feeling slightly comforted as everyone at the Slytherin table laughed with her this time, and not at her.

Everything went back to normal up until about a week later, at the beginning of the next Potions' class, in which Theodore Nott went up to Professor Snape, whispered something to him, walked back to his seat, and moved as far away from Tracey as possible, though she didn't bear any hard feelings about this; on the contrary, she was rather pleased about this, being as she had been unable to look Nott directly in the face without blushing since the incident of the previous class.

"Hmm, this may have put a damper on my theory about you two," Daphne mused, scratching her chin thoughtfully.

"What theory?" Arla piped up.

"Oh, I just had feeling that since the last potions class; sparks may have been flying between those two, if you get my drift." Daphne replied in an undertone, smirking good naturedly, pointing in Tracey and Nott's directions.

Arla and Daphne laughed so loud, so long, and so hard at this that people stared at them. Tracey blushed as red as a tomato.

"_Oh, shut up!"_

**And…. end flashback mode… for this chapter anyway. The next two chapters are going to be flashbacks to events mentioned in previous chapters, and then the story's going to have another time jump and move forward slightly. Anyway, please review! **


	4. High heels and bee stings equal danger

**Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed this story, added it to favorites, or story alerts, and Happy late Easter to anyone who celebrates it!*hands out Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies* By the way, I've decided to include this little design to show scene changes in certain chapters. Here's what it is:**** S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S ****This chapter takes place in first year…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter,**** or any of the characters in the story, except for my OC Arla Paxton. I also do not own ****Fruits Basket.**

Chapter 4: High Heels + Bee Stings= High Danger

It was an unusually warm early spring afternoon in the History of Magic classroom. The Slytherins and Hufflepuffs were eager enough as it was to escape the class, due to the fact that Professor Binns' droning voice eliminated all chances of the class being even moderately exciting. The fact that it was a pleasant afternoon outside was an even bigger incentive for the class's eagerness to escape the dreadfully dull classroom, as well as it being the last class of the day. Though of course, they didn't. Not because they were trying to obey the school rules about not leaving a classroom randomly simply because they were bored, oh no, it was actually because the classroom's occupants were too drained by Professor Binns' lack of energy and monotonous voice to even leave their seats.

However, there were a few students whom were immune to the dreariness of Professor Binns' and his classes. These two students were named Arla Paxton and Sally- Anne Perks. Arla had so much determination to beat Hermione that she managed to pay attention even in History of Magic in order to do well in school. There was another reason besides just beating Hermione Granger that gave Arla an incentive to focus when in this particular class. Arla actually did enjoy the topic. Arla studied genealogy in her spare time, and had even done research on her own families as well as other families' roots in her spare time.

Sally – Anne Perks was a Hufflepuff in Arla's year who also somehow managed to concentrate in this class. Sally- Anne did not have the same level of determination and competitiveness that Arla did to be the best in everything and for this Arla could not help but respect her for. Arla knew there was nothing at all wrong with determination itself, but even she had to grudgingly admit that she could be a little overly competitive sometimes. Arla did not treat Sally-Anne as a rival the way she treated Hermione Granger, but rather as an intelligent person who she could come to for advice and receive an honest opinion from and even have conversations with from time to time. Though Arla did not see her as much and was not as close to her as she was to Daphne and Tracey, Sally-Anne was still, never the less, a friend.

Now as Arla scribbled down some notes, she spared a quick glance around the classroom. She and Sally-Anne were working diligently, but some of their classmates weren't even trying. Some of them actually had fallen asleep; Crabbe and Goyle were both openly snoring. Loudly. Needless to say, in their case it wasn't a pretty sight. Or sound, for that matter.

Tracey was currently staring out the window and either writing something most likely unrelated to History of Magic, or drawing something also unrelated in her notebook. (Tracey sat near the back of the room whereas Arla sat in the front so she couldn't see what exactly it was that Tracey was doing.) Tracey always carried around a notebook with her, where she would jot down all of her thoughts and ideas, and would even write stories or draw pictures in their from time to time. Tracey almost always tried her best in school, but History of Magic was one of those few subjects she had given up on, being as Arla would always let her copy her notes afterwards.

Some students had at least tried to take notes for a while before giving up, though. Daphne sat right behind Arla and had tried to listen to Binns', but midway through the class she couldn't do it anymore, set her hand down for a moment as she blinked back sleep, decided her mind needed to rest for a bit, and it had been resting since. In other words, she was now lost in a daydream where she had somehow managed to smuggle her sister into Hogwarts and was giving her a tour of the castle, about to introduce Astoria to her friends, when-

" !"

That woke everyone in the class up. Even Professor Binns had finished speaking, possibly for the first time in history. What could possibly have been the cause for all this? The answer is simple; it is what would disrupt any first or perhaps even _seventh_ year class: It was… _a bee._

All of the students immediately ran to the opposite sides of the room, except for Arla and Sally-Anne, whom remained seated, though had their necks craned in the direction of the bee. Meanwhile, Professor Binns was outraged. "Ladies and gentlemen," he thundered. "Might we get back to the lesson? What is the matter?" It was amazing how even when he was yelling, Professor Binns' voice was still so dreary.

"It's the bee sir," Daphne ventured bravely." That bee over there," she pointed at the bee. "It just came flying in from the window, and-"

"You mean to tell me, "Professor Binns interrupted impatiently. "That all this fuss is over a _bee?"_ No one answered that. "Now then, tell me; who was it that let out that scream in the first place and caused all this?" Tracey gulped nervously and stared down at the floor. Fortunately though, Binns seemed to take no notice. "Now then, if we could kindly carry on with the lesson…" And within five minutes, class resumed as usual.

After class, The Slytherins made their way down to the Great Hall for dinner.

"Merlin Tracey, that sure was some scream," Daphne commented as they left the classroom. Tracey nodded, looking slightly embarrassed." Yeah, well, I'm just scared of bees, that's all." Pansy smirked. "Really, Tracey? You're scared of _bees?" _She repeated incredulously.

Tracey glared at her a bit, face reddening. "Well I got stung by one when I was three, okay? It hurt a lot. I've gotten stung twice since then. Once by a hornet when I was five, and once by a yellow jacket when I was ten. Oh, and there was that wasp from when I was seven, so that's been four times in my life actually." Pansy suddenly looked very confused, as did Crabbe and Goyle, whom were walking near them as they made their way into the Great Hall. "Wait a moment, there's more than one type of bee?"

Arla rolled her eyes as Pansy attempted to wipe her head around this, decided it was too much effort, and instead proceeded to complain to Millicent about how boring Professor Binns was and wondering why they had to take History of Magic in the first place.

"I've never actually gotten stung by a bee before," Daphne realized as they sat down at their table.

"Really?" Arla said in surprise. "I haven't gotten stung multiple times like Tracey has, but I know I've been stung _once_. You're sure you've _never_ gotten stung? Ever?"

Daphne shook her head. "Nope, never."Then," I wonder if I'm allergic?"

Arla shrugged. "Being as you've never gotten stung, you could be, or you might not be, there's no way to know until you get stung."

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S **

The next day, Saturday, brought with it a torrent of rain that contrasted with the fine weather from the day before greatly. Arla spent the morning and early afternoon playing Exploding Snap and Wizard's Chess with Tracey and Daphne in the common room. Both of these games were not games Arla was especially good at; in fact, these were games that gave her quite a bit of difficulty. Daphne won most of their games when they played Exploding Snap, and Tracey won most of their games when they played Wizard's Chess. Arla soon tired of this, got in an argument with Tracey and Daphne, and stormed out of the common room to go spend some time in the library until she cooled off.

When she was there, she found the library to be unusually crowded, due to the fact that it was raining out so no one could go outside, lunch had ended an hour ago, so no one was in the Great Hall eating, which left two places really where a student could hang out: their common room, and the library. Evidently Slytherin was not the only house whose common room was especially crowded today. In fact, roughly half of the population inhabiting Ravenclaw Tower was in the library when Arla walked in.

It was there that Arla realized; so many Ravenclaws being there could only mean one thing: they were conspiring. Now, Arla knew that there were always Ravenclaws there when she went to the library. However, it seemed impossible for there to be this many at the same time. It really was an ingenious plan: half would go to the library, and half would stay in the common room, meaning that it would not be crowded for their house. Now that was brilliant.

Still, Arla was thankful she had been Sorted into Slytherin instead of Ravenclaw. There was no way she'd be able to handle that much competition, or be surrounded by so many people similar to her. In Slytherin, there were similarities among house members, but there were also quite a few differences if one looked closely enough. Arla knew she would constantly feel threatened if she were in Ravenclaw; she'd have to keep a close eye on her housemates that they weren't beating her at anything all the time. Arla didn't feel very paranoid about the other Slytherins outsmarting her in school work.

There seemed to be many older students there as well, most likely already studying for the O. or N.E.W.T.s they'd have to take in several weeks from now. Arla eventually managed to find a seat next to Sally-Anne and sat down. Sally-Anne looked up from her work briefly, saw Arla, and gave a little nod before returning to work. This was one reason Arla liked Sally-Anne; she was able to tell when people were in bad moods, and somehow seemed to know how to handle them. In Arla's situation, she didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment while at the same time both yearned for someone else's company; Sally-Anne understood this, and therefore did not badger her about her silence.

As Arla got her homework out, she couldn't help but look around and notice that Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger were in the library, hunched over books and whispering to each other. Arla tried to listen, but she couldn't make out what was going on . Arla stared at them contemplatively for a moment.

It had not escaped Arla's notice that for the past few months it seemed that those three were in the library very often. Arla knew that Hermione practically lived in the library, but why were Harry Potter and Ron Weasley coming with her so much as of late? Arla had tried finding out information using several different strategies and techniques several times, but to no avail. Something smelled fishy to Arla, and she was determined to find out what it was.

At the moment though, Arla could only try to focus on her schoolwork though. This didn't last long however, due to the fact that the Weasley Twins had entered the library, and Arla overheard them conversing about setting off a dung bomb to anger Madame Pince the librarian and cause mayhem, making Arla decide that now would be a good time to leave the library. She informed Sally-Anne about this in an undertone, and both girls got up and left.

On the way out, Arla feeling a little more calm than she had before, proceeded to discuss with Sally-Anne about how easy that test they'd had in Charms the other day was, and debated over who would win in the school Quiddich Cup finals. Arla was left in great spirits after this, but unfortunately both girls had to bid each other farewell as they each went off to their separate Houses.

As Arla entered the Slytherin common room she found it still to be too crowded for her liking, and went to her dormitory instead. Upon entering, she found Pansy, Millicent, and Tracey hunched over Daphne, all of whom had looks of concern on their faces. Arla heard sobs coming from Daphne and ran over immediately to see what was wrong, all bitterness she had had in her earlier disappearing instantly.

"What happened?" Arla asked running over to Daphne. "Daphne what is it?"

"We don't know," Tracey wailed, looking close to tears. "One moment everything was fine and the next Daphne let out this scream and started crying. We've been trying to find out what's wrong, but she won't tell us."

"A-a bee!" Daphne chocked out between sobs." It was a bee!"

"A bee?" Arla repeated quizzically.

"Yes, a bee!" Daphne howled. "I got stung by a bee, Arla! It hurt really bad, and Arla, I-I-I-"

Arla waited for Daphne's sobs to subside. Daphne finally finished," I think I'm having an allergic reaction!"

"Oh no, that's awful, "Tracey exclaimed. "Arla, do you know what to do?"

Arla stood there thinking for a moment, trying to stay calm, before saying finally," Daphne, where did you get stung?"

"She got stung there," Millicent spoke, much to Arla's surprise; Millicent rarely ever talked unless necessary, so this must be serious. Millicent pointed to Daphne's forearm. Arla was about to roll up Daphne's sleeve to see the sting, but Daphne jerked away, yelling, "Stop!"

"She won't show any of us," Said Pansy. "It's useless, we tried but she did the same thing."

Arla, starting to get seriously worried at this point, began panicking. " Oh my God, Daphne, if you really think you're allergic or got infected, we'll need to get you to Madame Pomfrey, I'm sure she knows how to treat bee stings-"

Arla's rambling was interrupted by bursts of laughter from Pansy, Tracey, Daphne and Millicent.

"I can't believe she fell for it," Pansy cackled.

"Me neither," Millicent joined in, her laugh strongly resembling that of a hyena.

"Will someone please explain to me what that was about?" Said Arla, feeling relieved that there appeared to be nothing physically wrong with Daphne, though quite curious at the reason behind what had just happened.

"It was my idea," Daphne explained, calming down now. " I was remembering that conversation we had after that bee came into History of Magic the other day, and I just _had_ to do this. "

"I even drew a bee sting on her arm," Tracey piped up, rolling up Daphne's sleeve, which revealed a remarkably realistic bee sting design. "In case you wanted proof."

Arla felt the corners of her mouth twitch, and joined in laughing as well, it truly had been a very convincing and very amusing prank once she understood what had happened. Once everyone's laughter had subsided, Arla commented thoughtfully, "You know, this would be an interesting prank to play on the boys…" Everyone exchanged looks with one another, and grinned. This was going to be good.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S **

The Slytherin first year boys were all lounging in chairs by the fire in the common room. Draco was droning on to Crabbe and Goyle about some matter concerning him and voicing his opinion loudly. (In other words, he was complaining.) Theodore Nott was reading a book, keeping to himself, while Blaise Zabini was trying to do his homework. Trying being the key word, due to Draco's constant whining making it incredibly hard to concentrate. He was just about to tell Malfoy to shut up, when the girls entered the common room from their dormitory, amongst whom, he noticed was Daphne Greengrass, face buried in her hands, wailing audibly.

Even Draco stopped talking as he heard Daphne's sobs, and turned around in his seat, wondering what was going on. "What's wrong with her?" He sneered. Theodore Nott looked up from his book, he too curious for an explanation.

"We don't know," Arla whispered, hazel eyes fear stricken. "We were up in our dormitory a moment ago, when she suddenly went ballistic and started crying. We've tried talking to her and can't make out what's wrong, so now it's your turn."

"And we are supposed to care, because?" Draco asked, annoyed that this was what they had wanted to see him about.

"Wow Malfoy, you really are selfish." Tracey muttered in disgust.

Draco stood up to his full height and looked down at Tracey, who was the only girl in Slytherin who was shorter than him. "What did you just say to me, Davis?"

"Um, nothing," Tracey quipped nervously.

"That's what I thought," Draco replied with a curt nod, and was about to go back to his conversation with Crabbe and Goyle. (If one could call it a conversation really, being as Draco was the only one who was talking.)

Thinking quickly, Arla reminded them all:

"My father is the secretary to the Minister for Magic in Ireland. My mother happens to have her own column in one of Ireland's major Wizarding newspapers. I don't think they-or anyone else for that matter- would be too pleased to discover that this girl was suffering from an emotional ailment while you all did nothing. In fact this could result in her developing homicidal tendencies, and at her hearing, when we're called up to testify, we'll be blamed for not doing anything sooner, and other countries will be outraged by this due to the fact that she will have committed various crimes worldwide, which my mother will write about in her column, and my father will inform the Irish Minister for Magic of, and people will be so appalled by this, as well as the crimes Daphne will have committed in other countries, that Ireland will have no choice to go to war with England, and-"

"All right already," Blaise threw his hands in the air in surrender, muttering, "Anything to avoid a_ war_." Blaise sat down next to Daphne. "All right Greengrass," He grumbled. He highly doubted Arla's theory was to be taken seriously, but he didn't want to take any chances. Daphne, in his mind, was crazy enough as it was, and the idea of her becoming even more so was, in a word, terrifying.

"Oh Blaise," Daphne wailed dramatically. "I think I'm dying!" Blaise almost fell over in his chair, so unexpected it was. Theodore watched intently, and even Draco stopped talking for once.

"And why do you think that?" Blaise asked slowly, wondering if there was perhaps some truth in Arla's prophecy after all.

"I got stung by a bee," Daphne howled.

"A bee?" Blaise repeated incredulously. "Greengrass, you are not going to die from a bee sting… unless you're allergic and don't receive proper medical attention in time, in which case it is possible for you to die, but you're not allergic are you?"

"I don't know," Daphne whispered. "I might be. I know both my mother and my sister are. is that sort of thing hereditary?"

"Let me have a look at where it stung you," Said Blaise, who honestly did not know the answer to that. Daphne rolled up her sleeve and showed him her left arm. On it was a swollen looking bee sting mark, and several red blotches.

"Greengrass, are those hives?" Blaise exclaimed. "We need to get you to the hospital wing-"

But right at that moment the girls all burst out laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" Demanded Draco.

"Because," Daphne chocked out, rubbing her eyes, in which tears of mirth had formed. "I was never actually stung; Tracey just drew the sting and those blotches on my arm to make it look like I had, and was having some sort of reaction. "

Theodore smirked; Crabbe and Goyle blinked in confusion, while Draco and Blaise both rolled their eyes, and went back to what they were doing before. As the girls, still laughing, retreated back to their dormitory, Draco leaned over to Blaise and sneered, "You really fell for that, didn't you?"

"Shut up Malfoy," Blaise snapped. "So did you."

"No I didn't" Draco insisted defensively. "I was perfectly aware of what they were playing at, I was just pretending not to. For the sake of the joke."

"Right," Blaise's tone dripped with sarcasm.

Draco glared at him for a moment, before saying," I think you like her more than you care to let on."

"Who?" Blaise questioned irritably.

Draco smirked. "You know who."

Crabbe stared at Blaise. "Zabini, you mean to tell me you fancy You-Know-Who?"

Everyone nearby roared with laughter at that.

"Wait, he said _her_," Goyle tried to wrap his mind around this for a moment. Then," Since when is You-Know- Who a woman?"

The common room nearly exploded from the laughter that rang through it.

"No, boys," Draco said, clutching his side. "I was talking about someone very different."

At this point, Blaise realized he'd never be able to study in peace, and stalked towards the boys' dormitories.

_If he hasn't realized how he feels about her by now_ Theodore mused while watching Blaise leave, He_ truly is an idiot. _

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

That had been a couple of hours ago and there was still a long while before dinner. Arla sat on her bed, completely bored out of her mind. Pansy was talking loudly about some subject that really didn't interest Arla, in her usual annoying, -I'm so superior, do as I say and bow before me- sort of voice, while Millicent was listening intently. (Or if she wasn't, she was doing a very good job of making it seem like it.) Tracey was drawing in her notebook, and Daphne was writing a letter to Astoria. Arla had finished her homework a couple of minutes ago, and now had nothing to do.

Arla flopped over on her bed, and craned her neck in Tracey's direction, trying to see what exactly it was that Tracey was drawing. Tracey was drawing a character from a Muggle manga called Fruits Basket that Arla had introduced Daphne and Tracey to recently, and at the moment, Tracey was drawing Tohru Honda from memory.

Arla had a subscription to an organization that published Muggle literature for wizards known as Muggle Media Mail. Meaning that the Muggle stories were kept the same, but would have notes on the pages of the piece of literature, or notes on separate sheets included in the back, that would explain Muggle customs demonstrated in the story that witches and wizards may not be familiar with. Once a week, an owl would come to the Slytherin table to deliver a heavily wrapped brown package to Arla containing book covers as well as whatever it was that Arla had ordered.

Arla paid extra for the book covers and packaging, being as she knew some of her fellow Slytherins would be upset to see her reading Muggle literature and stories, but she secretly shared her subscriptions with Daphne and Tracey, both of whom enjoyed this greatly. After a certain amount of time though, an owl would come to her, expecting her to return her subscription in decent condition. This was because Arla would usually borrow or rent Muggle books, comics, magazines, as well as other pieces of Muggle literature, and would therefore be expected to return her subscriptions after a certain amount of time.

Arla did not buy the subscriptions due to the fact that they tended to be fairly expensive to actually buy. In fact, Arla had to pay a decent amount of money just to _borrow_ them. Each month, if Arla earned good grades in school, her parents would send her a certain amount of money to order various pieces of Muggle Media. If she did not do well in school, her parents would not send her money, which would mean she would be cut off from reading her favorite stories, meaning her life was meaningless.

Okay, so maybe it wouldn't actually make her life have no value, but it undeniably acted as a reason for Arla to keep her grades up, and partially was why she was so competitive and concerned over her studies. Though her parents never had said that they wouldn't send her money just because she wasn't _the_ top of the class; Arla would, if possible, send home any assignment she had worked on for school including the grade on it.

After seeing it, her parents would record the grade, send it back to her, and if her grades had been mostly positive for that month, her parents would send her money to buy subscription from Muggle Media Mail.

Fortunately Pansy was interrupted by a tapping at the window. Getting up to see what it was, Arla recognized Pansy's parents' owl pecking at the door, a bulky looking package held in its beak. Pansy opened the window, snatched the parcel, opened it, and out fell four high heeled shoes. A letter was attached. Pansy opened it, read it, and smirked.

"My uncle," Pansy informed them, "just sent me these shoes as an early birthday present. Who here wants to try them on?" The girls peered over at the shoes. One pair was as fine a blue as the sky on a clear day. Another pair seemed to glisten like emeralds. One more pair was the color of sunshine. The final pair of shoes was ruby red.

"Really Pansy?" Tracey asked eagerly. "You'd really let us try them on?"

"I will," Pansy said with a smirk. "But only for a price. How much would you be willing to pay Davis? "

Before Tracey could answer, Daphne interrupted," Wait a minute Pansy. We don't all have the same shoe size as you."

"I can fix that," Said Arla. "I could just use magic to alter the size of the shoes for you if they don't fit."

"Then it's settled," Pansy was satisfied. "Now, Davis how much would you pay for these shoes?"

Tracey fished in her pockets. "Um, one Knut?" She offered weakly.

"One Knut?" Pansy bellowed. "You mean to tell me Davis, that you would only pay _one Knut_ for shoes like these?"

"Eep! Sorry! Sorry!" Tracey squeaked. "How about… two Knut?"

"Paxton, how much would you pay for these shoes?" Pansy asked, ignoring Tracey.

"Why would I want to pay, just to try on some shoes?" Arla questioned practically.

Pansy looked outraged. "These aren't just "some shoes"! Are you saying they're ugly?" Pansy demanded menacingly.

"Did I say that?" Arla stated bluntly. "I think they're lovely: I just don't see what the big deal is. I mean, they're just shoes, after all. And why should I have to pay to try on shoes if I'm not even buying them; I'm just trying them on. If I want to wear them, I can always just buy them for myself. I don't even feel like wearing them, actually. I'd rather admire them from a distance, being as I've worn high heels before and when I have its never ended well."

A moment of silence fell before Pansy turned to Daphne." Greengrass, how much would you pay for these shoes?"

"One Sickle," Daphne offered. Then, catching Pansy's glare, she added," for each, I mean."

"I'd pay half a Galleon," Millicent interjected.

Pansy beamed. "Okay, now we're starting to get somewhere. A full Galleon now, anyone?"

"Ooh, I have a Galleon," Tracey put in.

"I have two Galleons!" Daphne yelled. Arla sighed; evidently her friends didn't share her views about this particular situation.

_Pansy is so dumb,_ Arla thought to herself. _Doesn't she- or anyone else for that matter- realize that making other people pay just to try on a pair of shoes is ridiculous? I mean, if she planned on sharing them with us, this totally defeats the purpose of sharing. Unless, of course, this is just a get-rich-quick scheme of Pansy's, which wouldn't surprise me, knowing her; she's so selfish. She never does anything unless it's to her own benefit, does she?_

"Two Galleons it is then," Pansy declared triumphantly. "Cash up now, all of you." The girls then proceeded to hand Pansy their money, who in turn instructed, "Everyone, pick out what shoes you'd like to try on. Paxton will alter the shoes so they'll fit your size."

Arla did as she was told, though not because Pansy had ordered her to; simply because she had said she would in the first place, and had no intent on breaking her promise.

The girls were ecstatic, though almost all of them fell down as soon as they tried on the heels.

"Has anyone here besides Arla worn high heels before?" Tracey asked as she fell face first on to her bed after about a second of wearing the heels.

"No," everyone else chorused.

"Arla, we need you to teach us! Would you do that for us please?" Daphne requested.

Arla truly was a disaster when it came to high heels. However, she enjoyed having some experience in something her classmates didn't, and therefore agreed to help them by trying on one pair of the shoes… and collapsing the instant she slipped her feet into them.

"I think we should try teaching ourselves," Pansy said once she had stopped laughing. "Let's practice, and once we've gotten the hang of this, we'll show off our skills-and shoes- in the common room. Everyone will be _so_ jealous!"

Arla rolled her eyes at this; she highly doubted that would be the case, but the rest of the girls agreed with this and continued to practice until they more or less got the hang of it. Daphne was the first one to walk around the dorm without tripping, slipping, or falling whilst wearing the high heels. After her were Millicent, then Pansy, and finally Tracey. The girls then decided to head out. Arla followed in their wake, if only to see what would happen… and be there to get Madame Pomfrey, the school nurse, if necessary.

The girls opened the door to their dormitory and reached the foot of the stairs that would lead up into the common room.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

Blaise Zabini exited the boys' dormitories and made his way back to his spot in the Slytherin Common Room where the rest of the boys still were.

"Rather stuffy isn't it?" Blaise observed as he opened a window; the rain had recently stopped, and the room was indeed rather stuffy due to the fact that no one had opened a window all day, and the common room was especially crowded.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

"That sure is an awfully long stair case," Tracey observed with a gulp.

"What are you talking about? It's only, what, a dozen or so steps?" Arla exclaimed skeptically. "That's practically next to _nothing_ in comparison to some of the stair cases at this school."

Never the less, the girls walked up the stair case without incident, quite possibly due to them fact they were walking so slowly that Arla could practically hear "Chariots of Fire*" playing in the background. Finally the made it up the relatively short staircase, when Tracey, who was surprised she had made it up alive, let alone without tripping, yelled very loudly, "WE MADE IT!" Which resulted in every head in the common room facing their direction.

"Tracey," Pansy hissed, turning to face Tracey," You just ruined our entrance!" As Pansy turned to face Tracey while saying this, what happened next appeared to be in slow motion: Pansy wobbled for a moment, but managed to regain her balance, however in doing so, he arm accidentally brushed against Tracey, causing Tracey to lose her balance, which resulted in Tracey falling down the stairs, landing on her backside.

As the the majority of the common room's occupants practically erupted into laughter,(none of the girls in their year did, and Theodore didn't ) Arla ran down to see if Tracey was okay. "Shut up you idiots, she could be seriously hurt!" Arla shouted as she cascaded down the steps. When she reached the bottom, she asked," Are you okay Tracey?"

"My head hurts," Tracey moaned. Arla quickly checked Tracey's head, though there appeared to be no sign of any cuts or bleeding. Still, she had to make sure Tracey really was okay.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" Arla raised her entire right hand in front of Tracey's face.

"Five?" Tracey guessed.

Arla shook her head. "Wrong; the thumb doesn't count as a finger. We better take you to the Hospital Wing, just in case." Pulling Tracey up, Arla let Tracey hang on to her so as not to trip whilst wearing the high heeled shoes, and hollered to the common room," I'm taking her to the hospital wing! She could be seriously hurt!"

"No I'm not," Tracey protested feebly as Arla dragged her away. "I didn't know the thumb didn't count as a finger!"

"Oh my God, are you all right Tracey?" Daphne squealed.

"I'm fine," Tracey insisted. "Arla, listen to me-"

Arla ignored her though, thinking it must be the shock talking, and soon enough the two were gone.

Pansy and Millicent turned to return to their dormitory, when Daphne screamed. A bee had entered through the window. Daphne ran back to the dorm, but Millicent and Pansy had closed it shut behind them.

"Let me in!" Daphne shrieked.

"Is the bee out there with you?"

Daphne turned and almost jumped out of her skin. "IT IS! WHY IS IT DOING THAT?"

"You used that sweet smelling shampoo didn't you?" Millicent inquired through the door.

"Yeah, why?" Daphne said back.

"It attracts bees," Millicent replied.

Silence, then: "LET ME IN, LET ME IN!"

"Sorry we can't," Pansy said from behind the door. "It'll follow you in here."

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU TWO FOR THIS!" Daphne vowed as she ran back up the steps and into the common room, and ran over to where Blaise was sitting.

"Blaise, may I please borrow your textbook," Daphne panted.

"Why-"

"It's a matter of life and death!" Daphne begged."Oh please let me borrow your book, Blaise. _Please_." She gave him puppy dog eyes.

"Okay, fine," Blaise gave in, giving her the book, which she then proceeded to use to swat at the bee, which only seemed to make it angrier.

"Greengrass, now look what you did," Blaise groaned, while Draco smirked, and Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.

"Nice bee," Daphne suggested timidly, and then- "Merlin's baggiest y-fronts, that thing just stung me!"

The bee had stung her ring finger on her left hand, which was now very red and swelling uncontrollably almost.

Blaise jumped out of his seat. "Greengrass, you really _are_ allergic to bee stings!"

Draco's usual arrogant smirk was wiped off his face, and he motioned for Crabbe and Goyle to stop sniggering. "Zabini, get her to the hospital wing," Draco ordered.

Blaise frowned; he didn't like Draco bossing him around as if he were one of his minions: Crabbe and Goyle occupied that role, not him.

"Why should I be the only one to-"

"It was your textbook," Draco said with a shrug. Blaise was puzzled by this response; surely Draco would have liked a chance to brag to everyone how if it hadn't been for him, Daphne wouldn't be alive or something like that, but here he was telling Blaise to take Daphne to the hospital wing. Blaise didn't have time to mull over this for long though, being as Daphne's reaction was only getting worse, so he did what he had to do; he took her to the hospital wing.

After they left, Draco commented to Crabbe, Goyle, and Theodore," Now that Greengrass, Davis, and Paxton, are out of the way, I think we'll have some peace and quiet around here."

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

"So, what have we learned here today?" Madame Pomfrey asked after she had treated Daphne's allergic reaction.

"Don't jump to conclusions," Arla answered, being as Tracey had indeed turned out to be perfectly fine, and also for the fact that she had instantly believed Daphne had been stung the first time when she hadn't.

"High heels can cause trouble," Tracey decided after a moment's thought. "Also, true friends don't make you pay to try on their new and fancy shoes."

" Allergic reactions are nothing to joke about," Daphne declared. "And bees are to be handled with caution; it is not wise to hit them with books."

"I think you've all learned your lessons for the day," Madame Pomfrey said finally after a moment of silence. "You may all leave now; have a nice afternoon, and for the love of Merlin, _please_ stay out of trouble."

***The song "Chariots of Fire" is not owned by me. For those interested, I would recommend re reading parts of this chapter while listening to that song; when you imagine that song playing in the background and with what's going on in the story… it's hilarious. **

**For those who are wondering just how much in terms of Muggle money the girls paid Pansy, just type in Wizarding currency into the Harry Potter wiki search engine, and a conversion chart will come up. (Note: I did not create that article, nor do I take any credit for it whatsoever.)**

**Also, here are a few things to think about : Arla's parents reward her for doing well in school by sending her money to buy Muggle things, but it wasn't said that they told her she had to be **_**the**_** best in her class. Why is she always struggling and striving to be **_**the**_** best at everything then? Just something to think about. What was Draco talking about when he said Blaise cared for someone? If Blaise does, who does he like? One more thing to consider: Arla's friendship with Sally-Anne. How do others perceive their friendship? Are other people aware that they're friends? If they are, how might this make life difficult for them being as they're from different Houses? Or might there actually not be any problems with this? If so, why? **

**Some of these questions may or may not be answered in Chapter five: A Trip to the Old Country…**

**Now, pretty please review! :D **


	5. A trip to the old country

**Once again, thanks so much to those who have reviewed, added this to favorites, or story alerts! *Hands out cyber treats* By the way, this chapter was inspired by the episode of ****Drake and Josh: Josh Runs Into Oprah. ** **Also, some of you may have noticed that I changed the character slots for this story from Daphne G. and Tracey. D to Daphne G. and Astoria G. This was done because although Tracey will still appear in the story, Astoria will appear more often later on and may have a more important role in the story then she does now…**

**This chapter takes place in the summer between first and second year.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter, Drake and Josh****, ****Fruits Basket****, or ****Sailor Moon.**** Or any of the characters in this story except for my OC Arla Paxton. **

Chapter 5: A Trip to the Old Country

It was midway through the summer holidays when Tracey came to visit Arla in Ireland. Tracey and her family took a Portkey that took them in front of the Paxton's house. Mr. Davis was a kind, humble man, who cared deeply for his wife and daughter. His wife was a very power witch named Theresa, who was also a loving mother to Tracey. They were met with vast fields of green as they took in their surroundings. A clear blue sky hung overhead, with only of a couple of white fluffy cumulus clouds. Tracey looked at the clouds, trying to make out what shapes they resembled.

_That one looks sort of like a dog… no hold on, it actually looks more like a dragon. And that one…_

Tracey's train of thought was broken when she received a bone squeezing hug from Arla, who had just run outside.

"Tracey! You're here! Oh, thanks for coming and happy early birthday!"

The reason Tracey and her family had arrived in front of Arla's house was that as an early birthday present for Tracey, she would get to spend three days in Ireland with Arla. As Arla's parents greeted Tracey's parents, Arla led Tracey inside the house. The house was creamy yellow on the outside, with a wooden porch. There were three floors on the inside, not counting the attic and the basement.

"So, you have the choice in either sharing my room, or taking one of the guest bedrooms." Arla informed her.

"Your room, definitely," Tracey decided. They climbed up a flight of stairs and dragged Tracey's things down a hallway until they reached a door and opened it that led into Arla's bedroom.

Arla's large bedroom had two large bookcases filled up to the brim with neatly organized books. Her white walls were covered with posters for The Weird Sisters, as well as posters of what Tracey could infer as several Muggle bands that she had never heard of,(she could tell that they were Muggle judging how the people on the posters weren't moving) and the National Quiddich Team of Ireland, as well as photographs of herself from when he was younger, and photographs of her with Tracey and Daphne. Tracey could not help but notice that several assignments from Hogwarts that Arla had done particularly well on at Hogwarts hung on the wall too.

Her bed sheets were green and there was a chair with a desk that currently had a green patchwork quilt on it, being as Arla did not need any blankets during the summer. She had a dresser with a mirror over it, to which Arla pointed and informed Tracey,

"You can put all of your things away in here; I moved all of my things into the closet."

Arla then proceeded to help Arla unpack, talking about their summers. As they finished unpacking (something which took longer than it normally would, as a result of the girls talking much more than they were unpacking) Tracey pulled out one last item from her suitcase: a sleeping bag.

"What do you need that for?" Arla asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "If you're worried about there being one bed, we could always have my mum or dad Magic the bed into two-"

"I want to try sleeping in a sleeping bag, "Tracey insisted. "My parents and I do this whenever we go camping, and sometimes I do this it home just for fun; I'd like to see what it would be like in Ireland!"

"If you say so," Arla said with a shrug, wondering for the life of her how Tracey could consider sleeping in a sleeping bag fun. "Well, anyway, I think dinner's ready. It's time for you to meet my parents."

Tracey gulped nervously and followed. She was worried about what Arla's parents would be like. She knew that they had very important jobs, and judging by how seriously Arla took her school work, Tracey strongly suspected that they were extremely strict. Tracey's parents were easy-going, fun-loving, creative, and obsessed with all things Muggle, and chances were Arla's parents were fairly Muggle loving to, if Arla's knowledge about Muggle culture was anything to go on.

Still, Tracey was quite nervous as she went downstairs. So nervous, in fact, that she fell down from the top and would have seriously injured herself had Arla's mother not been waiting at the bottom and ran up to catch her as she fell.

"Are you all right?" Arla's mother asked nervously as Tracey caught her breath.

Tracey nodded mutely, cheeks flushed.

"Can you speak?"

"Y-yes" Tracey managed to choke out. Arla's mother inspected Tracey for any signs of bleeding, though thankfully, there were none.

She held up five fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Four," Said Tracey, remembering her experience with Arla, and how Arla had dragged her off to the hospital wing when she had said five.

Arla's mother bit her lip. "Oh dear, I think we may need to take you to see a Healer, I'll go tell your parents-"

"No!" Tracey interjected hurriedly. "I only said five, because the thumb doesn't count as a finger! Sorry!"

"It's quite all right," Arla's mother sighed and then turned to face Arla. "Did you do this to her before and drag her off to the hospital when she said five?"

Tracey was stunned. How did Arla's mother guess that? And so accurately?

"Maybe," Arla mumbled. "I really thought she had a concussion though! I swear!"

"Yes well, in the future dear, please if one of us has to ask something like that, let's both agree that we'll both not hold up our thumbs so as to avoid confusion." Arla's mother stated decisively.

"Okay," Arla agreed.

It was then that Tracey noticed Arla bore a strong resemblance to her mother. They both had similar facial features, and curly hair, although Arla's mother's hair was fiery red whereas Arla's hair was auburn.

"Arla, now I know where you get your hair from!" Tracey exclaimed.

"Actually her hair is auburn, dear," Arla's mother corrected. "Meaning that it is a mixture of both red and brown, although I understand why from a distance it may look purely red."

_How is that "from a distance"? _Arla wondered to herself. _She's right next to me! _

"Is everybody okay?" Arla's father asked as he walked into the room. He was a tall, strong looking man with curly brown hair and hazel eyes; Arla's eyes.

"We're fine," Arla's mother assured him. "Tracey just fell down the stairs, but I caught her in time. "

"How are you, Tracey?" Mr. Paxton asked, shaking her hand gently.

"F- Fine," Tracey stammered, starting to think that maybe she had had no reason to worry after all. Then a thought occurred to her. "How did your wife know my name?"

"I'm a reporter," she replied for her husband. "I do research on all of Arla's friends from school. I wanted to make sure it would be safe for you and your parents to stay with us. My name is Deirdre, you may call me that if you like."

"Tracey, are you all right?" Tracey's parents walked over, looking concerned.

"Yeah," Tracey assured them. Everyone then proceeded to enter the dining room for dinner."

Dinner went smoothly, and afterwards the girls went to Arla's room where they spent the night

talking and laughing, and Arla introduced Tracey to a new Muggle manga she had discovered recently, called Sailor Moon.

"Best," Tracey began when she had only finished reading the first chapter.

"Muggle," Arla continued.

"Chapter," Tracey went on.

"EVER." Arla finished.

"Well, I don't know about ever," Tracey mused. "After all, I'm only one chapter in, so I might not like it as much as say, Fruits Basket, or I might like it equally as much, or maybe even better. It's too soon to tell right now."

"You have a point," Arla admitted.

"Hey Arla, can I ask you a stupid question?" Tracey asked.

"Better than anyone I know, except maybe Daphne," Arla replied jokingly. "No, I'm just kidding. So, what was it you wanted to ask?"

"You have photographs of me and Daphne, but other than us, why don't you have any pictures of people outside your family hanging up there?" Tracey inquired tentatively.

Arla was silent for a moment before she answered. "Well, I guess because maybe, you and Daphne were my first real friends outside of my family. When I was younger, well, you know how if someone's a witch or a wizard they're supposed to show signs of magic by age 7?"

Tracey nodded.

"Well, I didn't show any signs of magic until I was eight, almost nine. And when I was younger, the kids who did have magic used to tease me for not having any and called me a Squib. I didn't like that so I avoided playing with other children as much as possible. When I finally did discover I could do magic, I developed this competitive streak and wanted to show the world that I was just as good as everyone else; maybe even better. That's why I always try to be _the_ best at everything. And why I hate Hermione Granger so much; because she beats me at everything. It's as if everything I can do she can do better. I don't want to be considered inferior; not again."

Tracey was quiet as Arla stopped talking. This would explain why Arla was so competitive about everything when her parents didn't seem like the type of parents who put a lot of pressure on their child.

"I'm your friend," Tracey said after a while. "I don't think you're inferior. Even if you aren't the best at everything. Nobody is. I'm sure even Hermione Granger is bad at something. Besides, I still think you're really talented, even though you're not the best at everything. I'm just barley passing my classes because I struggle, but you don't think I'm inferior, do you?"

"No, of course not," Arla mumbled.

"Good," Tracey checked the time. "We should probably be getting some sleep soon."

"Yeah," Arla mumbled. "Good night."

"Night."

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S **

Both families dined with each other in the dining room the next morning for breakfast. An owl came to the window carrying a letter in its beak.

"Oh I recognize the owl; it's Daphne's owl." Tracey said as Arla walked over to the owl and read the letter out loud:

"_Dear Arla and Tracey,_

_Sexy Salazar Slytherin-"_

Tracey chocked on her food, and had to have her mother give her the Heimlich maneuver something Tracey did not know her mother knew how to do. Once she had recovered, Tracey gasped," Did she just say what I think she just said?"

Arla read on, though she too was shocked by that exclamation_. "That's my new catchphrase, do you like it? I always thought that old Salazar was particularly hot, in an evil sort of way. Anyway, how are you? My family is currently vacationing in Italy. Two days ago we saw a Quiddich match, but I accidentally knocked Astoria out of the Top Box."_

"She what?" Everyone chorused in unison.

"_Relax, she was fine_," Arla continued reading, as though there had been no interruption. "_Fortunately, as she fell, one of the Quiddich players caught her in mid-air. The next day we went to see the Leaning Tower of Pizza, which was absolutely amazing. Next, we went to visit a museum, where somehow Astoria and I got separated from our parents, and then somehow I lost Astoria too. Guess who I ran into: Blaise Zabini! I managed to convince him (read: forced him) to come help me find everyone. We were all reunited in the end, although Blaise had to leave before he could meet Astoria. Anyway, I'll give you more details the next time we meet_

_Good bye for now._

_Your Friend,_

_Daphne _

_P.S. I attached some photographs of Astoria. Isn't she so cute?_

There was a moment of silence at the table as Arla finished reading. Finally Tracey said, "You know she has a point. About Salazar Slytherin, I mean."

"What?" Tracey added, as everyone stared at her.

Mr. Davis was the one who broke the silence. "Well girls, as I'm sure you know, The Weird Sisters are holding a concert in Dublin this afternoon, and Arla's father managed to get you both tickets-"

Before he could even finish both girls hugged their fathers and started screaming and thanking them.

"We will be taking a Portkey, "Arla's father informed them once they had quieted down. "in a couple of hours."

Meanwhile Tracey looked at the pictures of Astoria. She had dark hair like Tracey, except longer and with more volume, although Tracey could not tell what color her eyes were. As Tracey eyed her own brown eyes reflected through the silverware, for some reason she could not help but hope that Astoria's eyes would be the same.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S **

The families waited outside of Ireland's Wizard Concert Hall where The Weird Sisters would be performing. The members of the band would appear by brooms any minute now. Shouts rang out from the crowd.

"I see something!"

"It's them!"

And it was. The Weird Sisters would have made a dramatic entrance had it not been that, while they were waving at the crowd, one of them forgot to stop flying and crashed into a tree.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S **

Tracey, Arla, and their parents stepped inside the hospital where the Weird Sisters were taken to after one of their members had injured themselves. Tracey's father was currently asking for the room of The Weird Sisters. "Room 227" The secretary at the front desk replied.

The families then went to the lift, went to the second floor, and were about to get off when a group of very dejected looking people entered the lift.

"Excuse me, but is this the floor the Weird Sisters are staying on?" Tracey's mother questioned.

"It is, but I wouldn't try." A boy Arla and Tracey's age grumbled."They won't let anybody in." The rest of the group was murmuring loudly to each other as well.

"Maybe we should just go back to their house," Tracey's father suggested to Tracey's mother, who agreed. In fact, the parents were about to tell the girls of this plan, only to find that they had already gotten off and hadn't heard them.

"Girls?" They called but the lift had already closed and was taking them down.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S **

Arla and Tracey walked down the hall to room 227, only to find it blocked by two security guards.

"You ask them," Tracey whispered feeling too shy to ask.

"Hi," Arla greeted the guards, who greeted her with a stony silence. "Could we plese go in to see the Weird Sisters? We're really big fans of theirs and would really like to see them. is that okay?"

Silence.

"I'll take that as a yes. Okay, Tracey, let's go-"

Right at that moment, one of the guards raised, his, and a wave of light zapped Arla, causing her to fall to the floor in surprise.

"Oh my God, Arla, are you okay?"Tracey shrieked, running over to Arla.

"I don't know!" Arla yelled, still in shock.

"Hey, you can't do that!" Tracey shouted, a wave of courage coming out from her seeing her friend in shock. "If you have a problem with my friend, you should just tell her politely to-"

Tracey was then zapped by the other guard.

"Are you okay?" Arla cried, getting over her shock and rushing to Tracey's aid.

"I don't know!" Tracey wailed.

In truth, the girls were merely zapped with the guards' wands; they really only felt as though they had received a relatively minor shock of static electricity rush through them for a split second, and were not truly in pain. Still, it was a bit of a shock.

The lift opened, and out came the parents.

"They zapped us!" These were the first words out of Arla and Tracey's mouths as soon as they saw them.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Tracey's father demanded boldly, approaching the guards, and then received the same treatment.

"Now, really, who do you think you are?" Arla's father roared, approaching them, and was zapped a moment later.

It was then that Tracey realized what she and Arla had to do if they wanted to see The Weird Sisters.

"FLESH EATING VIRUS!" Tracey hollered, pointing at Arla, who was pretending to double over, gagging. "This girl has a flesh eating virus!"

The security guards glanced at one another, and ran off.

"Okay, now we can go in-"

Rigght at that moment, a bunch of Healers arrived, pointing at Arla. "That's her, the ginger-haired girl with the virus, we must get her to the emergency room, immediately!"

"Okay, my hair is auburn, not ginger, why is that so hard for people to understand-" Arla was cut off by the Healers pulling her onto a stretcher.

"She's not sick! Not sick!" The mothers, fathers, and Tracey cried out, running after Arla.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

After the families convinced the Healers that Arla was fine, they were escorted (read: kicked out) of the hospital. The rest of the trip was spent at Arla's house until Tracey returned home to England, though Arla and Tracey managed to find means of keeping themselves entertained until the trip was over.

**Note: The zapping thing with the guards is something I made up. In the episode of Drake and Josh mentioned in the A/N at the beginning, the boys get tasered, but for obvious reasons that was not going to happen in my fic. I also didn't want to have them get Stunned, being as they would be knocked unconscious for a period of time, rather than recover a moment later. **

**Btw, if you go to Google Images and type in Tomoyo Daidouji, that's sort of how I imagine what Astoria looks like, for those interested. **

**Please review! **


	6. Chapter 6 Sailor Moon Halloween

**A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, added to favorites, or alerts!*hands out bouquets of flowers***

**So as of now, the story is going to progress for a few chapters before there are any other flashbacks. This chapter takes place at the beginning of second year…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter**** or any of the characters used in this story, except for my OC Arla Paxton. I do not own ****Sailor Moon**** either. Or ****The Trouble with Angels.**

Chapter 6: Sailor Moon Halloween

Weeks into the girls' second year, they were discussing ideas for Halloween at the end of the month at their usual spot in the courtyard. It was Daphne who suggested the idea. "We could dress up as some of the Sailor Scouts from Sailor Moon."

"Sounds good to me," Tracey agreed.

Arla thought about this for a moment before bringing up a very valid point. "It sounds like a good idea to me, but how can we dress up like them- or as anyone, for that matter- without breaking the rules? We'd still have to wear our school uniforms, remember?"

Daphne pondered this for a moment. "I suppose as long as we wore our robes _with _our costumes it should be fine. You know how a much of a big deal Halloween is around here, people have dressed up before in the past and as far as I know there's never been a problem with it. "

"So, who should we dress up as then?" Arla questioned, deciding for now to believe Daphne, but make sure to check the student handbook later on, just in case. One never could be too sure with Daphne's word.

Daphne thought about this for a moment. "We should dress up as who we most look like, I think, even if the characters' personality may not match our own. That way it will be easier to tell who we're dressing up as. Since I'm blonde, I think I should dress up as either Sailor Moon or Sailor Venus. Tracey, you're most like Sailor Mercury, I think. And as for you Arla," Daphne had to think for a moment.

"What about Sailor Jupiter?" Arla suggested. "I've seen colored illustrations of her from the manga, where her hair looks red, but most of the time I think, or at least in the anime, it's brown. Since my hair is auburn, a combination of red and brown, I think I should be Sailor Jupiter. "

"In that case, I guess I'll be Sailor Mercury," Tracey decided, being as that was who she most looked like from the show. "I know I got my hair cut right before school started, but I think it should be long enough for me to cut again the day before Halloween and that way I can have Sailor Mercury's haircut!"

"And I can try putting my hair into Sailor Moon's buns… or whatever her hairstyle is called!" Daphne exclaimed, deciding on being Sailor Moon rather than Sailor Venus, due to the fact that she wouldn't need to do anything to her hair if she dressed up like the latter, and she personally wanted to put a lot of energy and effort into this. .

"I can wear my hair in a ponytail," Arla thought for a moment, wanting to do more than just that. "And… maybe I can find a way to make my hair slightly less curly so that it will look more like Sailor Jupiter's…? And I was thinking… maybe I'd drink a potion that would get rid of my freckles for a day?"

"Aral, you don't need to do that!" Daphne gasped. "We love your curly hair and freckles!"

"As do I!" Arla assured them. "It's just that if I'm going to do this, I really want to look the part, you know? I know Sailor Jupiter has curly hair, but it's not as curly as mine, so I just want to make my hair a little less curly than usual. And since Sailor Jupiter isn't shown having any freckles, just for one day I think I should get rid of mine. But of course, only temporarily."

"We'll need to find the right costumes to dress up as them," Daphne mused, convinced. "We could probably order them in the mail, but being as this is a Muggle series, they're might not be any Sailor Scout cosplay available to witches through Muggle Media Mail. I don't know if they've made it available for wizards and witches to buy Muggle cosplay through owl post without people getting suspicious. "

'Maybe we should just do our best with what we have then," Tracey piped up. "We could just see if we have any clothes that resemble their costumes somewhat, or Transfigure some of our clothes so that they look like the costumes."  
>"Okay, that's brilliant," Daphne grinned.<p>

"Well I am Sailor Mercury," Tracey replied.

Arla thought about something for a moment. "Tracey, you know how sailor Mercury is really book smart?"

"Yes." Tracey nodded.

"Well, maybe dressing up like her will improve your grades!" Arla joked, and the girls laughed.

"Hmmm, you know, I just had a scathingly brilliant idea." Daphne told them, deep in thought.

"Well, Mary Clancy*, what is it?" Arla asked.

"What if during the day, we all acted like the characters wed dressed up as?" Daphne explained. "We'd even call each other by the characters' names! Tracey Davis would be Ami Mizuno, Arla Paxton would be Makoto Kino, and I would be Usagi Tsukino!"

"That really is a scathingly brilliant idea." Arla concluded. "And maybe we could try attempting to act like our characters too!"

"Cool!" Tracey squealed.

And so it was that the girls reached a plan on whom they would dress up as for Halloween. As the day approached, the girls found whatever clothes they had that resembled their character, and Transfigured them slightly so as to look more accurate. The night before Halloween, Tracey had Madam Pomfrey cut her hair into Sailor Mercury/ Ami Mizuno's haircut. At Hogwarts, students were able to receive haircuts from Madame Pomfrey if they brought in a signed permission slip from home informing her that they wished to have her cut their hair. Not all students knew how to cut their hair by themselves, so they had Madam Pomfrey do it for them. Tracey was one of these students and after showing Madam Pomfrey a drawing of what she wanted- Tracey was rather a good artist, and was able to capture Sailor Mercury's exact hairstyle-, Madam Pomfrey went to work and Tracey was pleased with the results.

Meanwhile Arla had ordered two potions in the mail. One potion, if she drank a quarter of the vial that was filled with pink liquid, would make her hair exactly the way she wanted it to curl. In another vial filled with red liquid, if she drank three quarters of it, it would make her freckles disappear for a day and a half. Arla drank the potion for her freckles before bed that night, and would drink her Straightening Solution in the morning. If she drank the entire vial, it would give her completely straight hair, however if she simply drank a quarter of it, it would merely make her curls a little looser for up to twenty for hours. If she drank a little less, she would still have the desired results, except it would not last as long. For both potions, she made marks on the vials indicating where she should stop drinking, and labeled her name on each.

"Tracey, your hair looks wonderful!" Arla remarked as Tracey entered the dorm.

"You really look like Ami, Tracey!' Daphne gaped.

"Thanks," Tracey said, blushing slightly at all the praise and attention she was getting.

The next morning, Halloween, Pansy Parkinson awoke earlier than any of the girls in her dormitory, went into the bathroom, and carefully closed the door behind her. She moved over to the sink, opened the cabinet underneath it, and found what she was looking for. A vial filled with light pink liquid. She started to drink from it, and then stopped when she realized it wasn't what she was looking for. Hastily putting it back, Pansy searched again and found what she was looking for. A vial with one quarter of red liquid left in it. She opened it, finished drinking what was left, and then proceeded to throw the vial away, and then proceeded to go on with her morning routine. She didn't notice that as she put the vial away, however, that there was a label along the side of it: Arla Paxton.

The reason for Pansy's behavior was this: Pansy Parkinson had a ton of freckles on her face; more than Arla had, actually. Pansy loathed her freckles, and since her first year of Hogwarts had taken to drinking a potion for her freckles every morning in secret. Her potion worked slightly differently than Arla's: Her potion, in order for it to remain effective, required her to drink one quarter of it every morning, where it would instantly vanish every last freckle on her body until there were none for up to and including twenty-four hours. (She brought several packs before each term with her so she never ran out.) Her potion resembled Arla's greatly though: Both vials had fractions wrote on them in quarters so each girl knew how much to drink and the only difference in color was that Arla's potion was slightly lighter than Pansy's. With Arla's potion, however, drinking one quarter of it mean that one's freckles would disappear for twelve hours, not twenty four.

The rest of the girls woke up shortly afterwards, and prepared for breakfast. As Arla drank her Straightening Solution, for some reason she had the feeling that it had been a little fuller last night than it was now. Shrugging it off, she drank up to the point where she had to stop, and then put her hair in a ponytail.

Daphne had no trouble with her hair once she received help from Tracey. The girls surveyed themselves in the mirror, wearing their costumes and robes at the same time. (Arla had checked the rules, and as far as she could find, there was nothing wrong with what they were doing.)

They came down to breakfast, whispering and giggling to each other eagerly.

"Do I dare ask what you three are on about?" Blaise Zabini solicited, noticing their behavior.

"Oh, don't you worry about a thing, Tuxedo Max!" Daphne giggled. The words were out before she could stop them, and it wasn't until right after she spoke that it sunk in as to what those words really meant. She could tell from the looks on Arla's and Tracey's faces that they knew too, and were both clearly trying not to laugh. Tuxedo Max was Sailor Moon/ Usagi's love interest, which meant…

"Aah! I am so sorry!" Daphne apologized profusely, face redder than Mars.

"Erm, okay." Blaise said and then smirked, albeit a slightly confused smirk. "I've been looking forward to seeing you apologize like this, Greengrass, but I have no idea why you feel the need to do it now."

"It's for calling you Tuxedo Mask, Blaise! I am so sorry!" Daphne almost wailed in her apology.

"Well yes, I can't say I particularly enjoy it when you spout rubbish like hat out of your mouth, but I can't say that I'm especially offended right now, so cool your jets, all right?" Even Blaise could not help but feel slightly unnerved by Daphne's apologizing.

"Oh! Very well then!" Daphne perked up almost immediately. She realized then and there that there was no way Blaise could know what she was talking about, and she was going to leave it like that. As Daphne went on to talk to her friends, Blaise just sat there wondering what planet she really came from.

Throughout breakfast, the girls addressed each other by the names of their characters.

"Please pass the butter, Ami-Chan," Daphne instructed Tracey.

"Of course! Here you go, Usagi-Chan!" Tracey played along, passing the butter.

"Oh, Usagi-Chan, may I use it when you're done?" Arla queried pleasantly.

"Why, certainly, Makoto-Chan!" Daphne passed the butter, winking.

"What are you three doing? "Draco had to ask, unable to handle the curiosity anymore, despite his best efforts not to get involved.

"Oh, we're just playing our own little game, "Daphne responded mysteriously. "You wouldn't understand."

"Why would I _want _to understand?" Draco sneered.

"Because you're secretly jealous of me." Daphne stated in a matter of fact tone of voice.

"Greengrass." Said Draco.

"Yes? "Said Daphne.

"You're weird." Draco commented.

"I get that a lot," Daphne smiled, an idea forming in her mind. " But just be glad I wasn't born a boy."

"Why should I?" Draco demanded, rather daringly it must be admitted, due to the fact that one never knew what words would come out of Daphne's mouth.

"Because if I were, I would be a lot more immature than I am now," Daphne answered. "Due to the scientifically proven fact that girls mature faster than boys."

"That is not true!" Draco insisted.

To prove her point, Daphne pointed at Crabbe and Goyle, who were attempting to shove sausages up their noses.

"Crabbe! Goyle! Put those down, and out of your noses!" Draco barked. "I honestly can't believe I actually need to tell you two this! And do not put them into your mouths or back on your plate either, whatever you do! Just-Just- throw them away or something!"

Draco sighed, admitting defeat. "Fine, you have a point there."

"Also, if I was a boy, Malfoy," Daphne continued. "I'd have to share a dormitory with you, so you'd be seeing me more often than you do now!"

Draco's already pale face went even paler as he returned to his breakfast, trying not to imagine having to put up with Daphne even more, and worse still, as a boy.

The girls continued their little game throughout the rest of the day. In class, amazingly enough, Arla's prediction became true: Tracey did improve in class. When she was called on by Professor McGonagall in Transfiguration to see if she was paying attention, she gave the correct answer! And when they had a test in Charms, she knew almost all of the answers on the test, and although she did not receive the test back yet, it was safe to safe she did well on the test.

Finally the Halloween Feast began, and it was as magnificent as ever this year. When the girls were finishing eating though, something very strange was happening. Arla's hair began to curl again, even though it wasn't supposed to, and actually broke out of its hair tie. Pansy noticed people staring at her too, looked into her spoon, which reflected her face somewhat, and screamed. Even through the tiny reflection she could see what was happening. Her freckles were returning! But how? Pretty soon, people were starting to laugh, unable to help themselves really. After all, it was a very peculiar sight.

Millicent Bulstrode stood up, grabbed Pansy by the arm, and took hero out of her seat. "Come on; let's take you to the Hospital Wing. You as well, Paxton." She nodded in Arla's direction.

Daphne and Tracey stood up too, Grabbing onto Arla. Daphne turned to Tracey. "Sailor Mercury, this is an emergency, we need to take Sailor Jupiter to the Hospital Wing! "

"Roger that, Sailor Moon!' Tracey grabbed on to Arla and ushered her out of the Great Hall along with Pansy and Millicent.

"The Hospital Wing should be along this hall!" Millicent remembered as they climbed the stairs.

"Sexy Salazar Slytherin, Millicent Bulstrode, I never knew you were this cool!" Daphne yelled as they ran." "Would you like to be a Sailor Scout too?"

"I don't know what that is, but whatever it is, no!" Millicent refused. "And what is with you and saying-"

"Sexy Salazar Slytherin?" Daphne interjected. "That's my catch phrase, see. Now, will you please join?"

"No!"

"Oh come on! "Daphne whined. "You could be… Sailor Mars!" She decided.

"What the hell are you talking about? Millicent grumbled as they reached the Hospital Wing.

Daphne and Tracey's jaws dropped. They had rarely heard Millicent speak before, let alone curse.

"Sexy Salazar Slytherin, she actually cursed at us! That is so… cool!" Daphne shrieked but at this point Madam Pomfrey found them and took them in.

After much talking and attempts at convincing Pansy, the truth finally came out. Pansy had drunk out of Arla's vials by mistake, and had no choice but to admit to her freckles.

"I got teased for it a lot when I was you younger," Pansy confessed. "So I tried to hide it when I went to Hogwarts. You won't tell anyone else about this though, will you?"

"Of course not," All four girls said at once. All of them were shocked at seeing Pansy admit vulnerability.

"I think she needs a hug," Daphne recommended and everyone, even Millicent, obliged.

The girls stayed with Pansy in the Hospital Wing until Madam Pomfrey was able to find the type of potion she took and returned her to normal.

"Do you think anyone is going to … give me trouble for what happened in the Great hall?" Pansy whispered as they left.

"If they do, I'll just beat them up for you," Millicent replied, cracking her knuckles.

"Thanks," Pansy said and the girls laughed. "Actually, I wasn't joking," Millicent stated, dead serious.

And no one did pick on Pansy or Arla after that, for you see, something happened after they left that put that out of everyone's minds. The girls were not in the entrance hall after the feast, where the words "_THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE", _were wrote on the wall and Filch's cat hung there, petrified.

***Note, the phrase "Scathingly brilliant idea" and the character of Mary Clancy come from a comedy movie called ****The Trouble with Angels. ****Said phrase happens to be the said character's catchphrase. That was who Daphne was impersonating. **

**Also, about Pansy, I always imagined her as secretly being very insecure about herself and having that be the reason why she picks on other people and teases them. I wanted to use this chapter as a chance to expose her vulnerability that I imagine. I'm planning on making her a sympathetic character in this fic, but this does not mean that she is going to become a nice girl. Just less nasty than she is in the books, which personally I think makes sense being as I'm sure she'd be a lot less mean to other Slytherins than she would be to the people she picks on. **

**Also, I was thinking about portraying Millicent in this fic as being a sort of Action Girl, and having everyone pretty much idolize her, lol. Btw, since in the books it never mentions this, I was thinking to myself recently,' What do the students at Hogwarts do when they need a haircut, because surely not all of them know how to cut it themselves?' And I came up with the idea of Madam Pomfrey doing it for them. At first I actually considered having one of the house elves in the kitchens do it, but then remembered that it doesn't mention anywhere in the books about them knowing how to cut hair, so I came up with the madam Pomfrey idea instead. For those who are not familiar with Sailor Moon and are wondering about who they dressed up as, just type the names of the characters the girls said they were dressed up as into Google Images, and the characters they were pretending to be should come up. **

**But enough of my rambling. Happy Memorial Day, and please review! :) **


	7. Houses

**A/N: It's recently come to my attention that the whole bee scene in chapter 4 doesn't make any sense, due to the fact that the Slytherin common room is located in the dungeons of the castle, meaning that they're located at the very bottom of the castle, and can even see under the lake, I believe, so therefore them having windows where they can see the grounds and receive sunlight does not make sense. However, in this fic, I'm going to have that the windows in the common room look out onto the grounds, but that the dormitories are located at a lower level, and from there one can see the lake. **

**So I had this idea of the girls having the conversation they have in this chapter, because I thought it would be fun to write about what students in Slytherin- particularly these girls, who are arguably not your typical Slytherins- think about all of the House rivalry and House stereotypes at Hogwarts. However, please note that this chapter is not meant to insult any of the Houses at Hogwarts, or suggest that one House is better than another House; it's just how I imagine the characters used would view things. **

**This one takes place during CoS towards the end of the school year… please enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter**** or any of the characters used in this story, except for my OC Arla Paxton. I do not own ****A Very Potter Musical.**

Chapter 7: Houses

It was a warm, beautiful late spring day, a fabulous time to be outside. Unfortunately for the occupants of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, however, they were kept inside on this glorious day. The reason for it was due to the fact that now a total of four students- all Muggleborns- had been petrified by The Heir of Slytherin or the monster of said heir. There were a lot of rumors circulating around this development, but no one knew for certain just exactly was going on.

Students were not allowed to go outside unaccompanied by a faculty member, so for the past week or so, Arla, Tracey, and Daphne, along with the rest of the Hogwarts students, were not able to spend as much time outside as usual. Instead, Daphne, Tracey, and Arla were seated in their usual spots in the exceedingly crowded common room. The majority of the Slytherin room was not particularly upset though; even though they had less freedom than usual, at least it mean that the Heir of Slytherin was fulfilling his or her goal: to eliminate Muggleborns from Hogwarts.

Arla, Tracey, and Daphne, however, were concerned for the remaining Muggleborns, and not euphoric about the attacks like some of their fellow Slytherins were, although they themselves were not particularly worried. All three of them were Slytherins, and even if they hadn't been in Slytherin, since Tracey and Arla were both half-blood, and Daphne was pureblood, they would still be safe. They were fairly confident that Dumbledore would be returning soon: After all, he was arguably one of the greatest wizards alive, Arla had reasoned, he'd find a way of returning soon somehow.

Tracey looked out the window and sighed. It was such a nice day out. She went back to sketching what the view outside looked like from within the common room. Arla was doing homework. Daphne was writing a letter to Astoria looking deep in thought.

"Hey Arla, can I ask you a stupid question?" Daphne asked Arla.

"Better than anyone I know," Arla replied jokingly. "Kidding! What is it?"

"What the hell is a Hufflepuff?"* Daphne enquired with a serene look on her face.

"… A student who was Sorted into Hufflepuff House while attending Hogwarts Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," Arla answered carefully after a beat, feeling slightly worried. "You should really know this by now Daphne, you've been going to school here for almost two years now-"

"No, not that," Daphne interrupted. "I know that, but what is an actual Hufflepuff? Is it an object? A place? Some type of animal?"

By now Tracey was listening in to their conversation too, curious as to what Arla's answer may be.

"Well," Arla mused slowly. "I know that Hufflepuff House was founded by Helga Hufflepuff, and it's named after its founder, but as far as I know there is nothing else named Hufflepuff."

"That's weird if you think about it," Said Daphne.

"So are you," Came the voice of Blaise Zabini who was passing by.

Daphne sighed. "Oh Blaise, you don't need to hide how you really feel by teasing me; I know that you're secretly in love with me."

Blaise's ebony face turned red. "Who told you that?" He demanded.

Daphne gasped in honest surprise. "So it IS true?"

"Who told you?" Blaise repeated angrily.

"No one, I just came up with that on the spur of the moment," Daphne giggled at the look on Blaise's face. "Now, what were you saying about how much you love me, Blaise?"

"I never said that," Blaise protested. "You did. Nor did I say anything that should have confirmed that ludicrous statement either."

"You didn't deny it though," Arla pointed out, joining in. "That definitely strikes me as suspicious."

"Stay out of this Paxton," Blaise glared. Arla rolled her hazel eyes.

"Well anyway Greengrass, you can believe whatever deluded fantasies you like, I'm going to my dormitory." And with that being said he walked away.

"You know, Blaise Zabini actually is kind of cute," Daphne commented as he left. "He's really funny when he's angry, don't you think?"

"Why is it weird, Daphne?" Arla asked, returning back to the topic at hand. "Abut Hufflepuff, I mean."

"Well with all of the other Houses, they're name has an animal in it. " Daphne proceeded to continue. "Ravenclaw has Raven in it, Gryffindor has griffin, and even though Slytherin doesn't actually have the name of an animal in the title, you can easily see the connection between Slytherin and Snake. What do you get with Hufflepuff?"  
>"They're House symbol is a badger," Tracey pondered. "So maybe a Hufflepuff is actually some type of badger?"<p>

"Maybe," Daphne agreed slowly, although she herself did not know of any breed of badgers by that name." But that's another thing; why is it that so many House symbols don't make sense? I mean Gryffindor's House symbol is a lion, not a griffin, and Ravenclaw's House symbol is an eagle, not a raven. Why is that?"

"Well, "Arla thought about this for a moment. "Lions are thought of as being courageous, so I suppose that explains Gryffindor. As for Ravenclaw, eagles are thought of as being wise so…"

"But aren't ravens known for being wise in literature too?" Daphne piped up.

"Yes…" Arla admitted.

"And since the name of the House actually is Ravenclaw, meaning the claw of a raven, why don't they just use a raven as their house animal if ravens are also wise? Why don't they just call it "Eagleclaw" in that case?"

"Because the Houses are all named after their founders," Arla explained. "That's why Ravenclaw is not "Eagleclaw."

"Well, I say its House symbol should still be a raven," Daphne argued.

'Or an owl," Tracey added. "Owls are supposedly wise too."

"A raven would make more sense," Daphne persisted. "And aren't Ravenclaws supposed to be very sensible because they're so smart?"

Arla was silent for a while, before deciding," Let us not argue about this anymore. The fact of the matter is," she told them, looking into Daphne's green eyes and Tracey's brown. " Slytherin is the House symbol that makes the most sense. It implies the movement of a snake, and our Hose symbol is a snake. Plain and simple. Personally, I think Slytherin is the best House at Hogwarts. I am to this day so relieved that the Sorting Hat didn't put me into Ravenclaw. "

"Arla, you'd fit right in there," Daphne reminded her.

"I would," Aral agreed," However, that's why I'd hate it. I like being in Slytherin, where not as many people are as smart as I am. I honestly like being around people who are different than me more than I do with people who are similar to me, for some reason. That's not to say that all Ravenclaws are the same, or even brainy, but you know how competitive I am already, if I were in Ravenclaw I'd probably be even more so, and would constantly be worrying about staying on top of the game. In Slytherin, while there certainly are many intelligent individuals, I have less competition." Here she pointed at Crabbe and Goyle across the room, who were having a heated discussion about who would win in a fight: Brussels sproutsor a string bean.

"The Sorting Hat almost considered placing me in Hufflepuff," Tracey informed hm. "For whatever reason it wound up placing me in Slytherin the end, though."

"It considered Hufflepuff for me too," Daphne conceded. " Actually, it considered all of the Houses."

"Even Ravenclaw?" Tracey blurted out before she could stop herself. "Sorry!"

"Hey, I actually am a good student you know, "Daphne defended, which was true. In fact, Daphne actually was a good witch, and received high marks. " It really seemed intent on placing me into either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff though." Then she shared a secret with them that she had never told anyone, not even Astoria.

Making sure to keep her voice to a whisper, she confided," Sometimes… I wish it did."

And to her surprise neither Arla nor Tracey seemed particularly shocked or even outraged.

"I think I know where you're coming from," Said Tracey "If we weren't in Slytherin, we wouldn't have to be so careful when we talk about Muggle things and worry about upsetting someone. "

"Even I admit that's true," Arla stated reluctantly. "But personally, I'm still glad I'm not I n Ravenclaw. I'd be way too paranoid…"  
>"You know something I don't understand?" Daphne solicited after some silence. "Why is there so much House rivalry? Doesn't anyone else think it's sort of ridiculous? I mean, why can't all of the Houses just get along?"<p>

"If it means I would have to be friends with Hermione Granger," Said Arla. "Fat chance. I mean, I don't have a problem with Gryffindor itself, but if it meant I would have to go around being friendly with Hermione Granger –"

"I never said that," Daphne interrupted. "And I'd like to remind you that said girl is petrified at the moment Arla, so you could stand to be a little nicer when you talk about her. But anyway, what I meant was that we don't all have to be BFFs, or even like each other, but we should at least act civil towards other Houses, don't you think? And I don't think there should be so many stereotypes about the Houses either, or so much prejudice or pressure to make it into certain ones. I remember that my parents kept putting so much pressure on me to make it into Slytherin, because all of our family has been in Slytherin, as far as I know."

"I agree with you," Aral decided quietly. "I may not like Hermione Granger, but I don't have a problem with any of the other Houses, not even Gryffindor, and we Slytherins are supposed to hate them, but I don't, despite my dislike for one or two of its members, I don't hate the actual House or all of or even many of its occupants. I don't have any prejudice against any of the other Houses: I just don't wan to be in Gryffindor or Ravenclaw due to some of its members. You know how I'm even friends with Sally-Anne Perks, and she's a Hufflepuff."

"That's another thing," Tracey jumped in. (Figuratively speaking of course.)" What is up with all of these stereotypes? 'If you're in Slytherin, you must be evil' or 'if you're in Ravenclaw you must only care about your grades' or 'if you're in Hufflepuff you must be a reject' or 'if you're in Gryffindor you must be a 'good guy".

"That's completely ridiculous," Arla agreed.

"Totally," Daphne nodded.

"In fact," Tracey declared boldly. "I don't think we should even have a Sorting Hat. I mean, it's a hat, albeit a magical one, but how does it really know who you are as a person and where you belong? And also, because each House has specific traits it looks for, people naturally assume those stereotypes. I think it would be best that if we even have to have Houses, if it was done randomly, you know, so there wouldn't be so much prejudice about Houses. "

"Absolutely," Daphne acknowledged positively. "You know, I always did suspect that the Sorting Hat was on drugs anyway. "

"WHAT?" Arla and Tracey bellowed so loudly that everyone in the common room turned to look at them, being as they had been talking quietly until now.

'Yes, dragon's blood can indeed be used as oven cleaner," Daphne stated randomly, in an attempt to avert attention from themselves.

After a very awkward silence, chatter resumed in the common room as if nothing had happened.

"You know what House would make our lives so much simpler if we were in it," Daphne spoke after several minutes. "Hufflepuff. That's the only House outside of Slytherin you wouldn't be uncomfortable being in, Arla, and they're very accepting so we wouldn't have to worry about using Muggle things in front of them, and I think you'd do very well in that House too, Tracey."

No one said anything, but they all sat there silently pondering over what life would be like if they had been Sorted into Hufflepuff House.

"Huh," Daphne remarked after a period of time. "I wonder what House Astoria will be Sorted into in autumn…"

***This is an exact quote from ****A Very Potter Musical****, which is not owned by me. **

**By the way, if anyone's wondering this, the reason Hufflepuff's House symbol is a badger is not because a Hufflepuff is a type of badger (it's not) but because badgers are known for being very hardworking, which is one of the traits that Hufflepuffs are known for. **

**Here's a hint for the next chapter: Astoria gets Sorted! What House do you think she'll be in? Questions: Does Blaise actually have a crush on Daphne? Does Daphne have a crush on Blaise? Does everyone in Arla's year in Slytherin House known about her friendship with Sally-Anne Perks, or is it just Tracey and Daphne? **

**By the way, I allow Anonymous Reviews now, so please, feel free to review! Until next time! :) **


	8. A Sorting to Remember

**Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, added to favorites or story alerts thus far!*Hands out cyber goody bags.* This chapter takes place at the beginning of third year…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter ****or any of the characters used in this story, except for my OC Arla Paxton.**

Chapter 8: A Sorting to Remember

"Everyone, today is probably going to be the most important day of all our lives! Remember this day everyone: the day Astoria Greengrass starts her very first day at Hogwarts and gets Sorted!" Daphne raved as she made her way over to her seat in the Great Hall.

"What the hell are you on about Greengrass?" Draco sighed in exasperation as Daphne sat down next to him, practically screaming in his ear.

"My sister Astoria is going to get Sorted tonight!" Daphne squealed.

"There. Are. More. Of. You?" Draco managed to get out, shell-shocked. He imagined a miniature version of Daphne running around, causing havoc. Lord knew that just one was trouble enough. "Good God, I pray that that child is not in Slytherin. Why did you never tell me you had a sister?" Draco demanded.

"Malfoy, she's mentioned her God-knows-how-many- times. "Blaise reminded him incredulously. "You honestly mean to tell me that you don't remember her mentioning her sister even once?"

"Of course I don't Zabini, I have more important things to do than listen to some silly girl's ramblings," Draco snapped. "More importantly though, why do _you_ remember?"

"Because I actually pay attention to my surroundings," Blaise replied. "And I wouldn't worry about her sister if I were you, Draco; imagine living with Daphne as a sister. Regardless of what House she gets in, she will need all the help and support she can get, having lived with Daphne for over eleven years. Take pity on her."

Draco imagined what life would have been like if Daphne were his sister for a moment. "Oh that poor child."

"Oh, ha ha, very funny," Arla scowled, much to their surprise, and they stopped. "Now shut up, the Sorting's about to start."

"Actually, it doesn't start for a few more minutes, "Pansy corrected as she entered the hall. She was about to sit in the empty seat next to Draco, but Daphne stopped her.

"Sorry Pansy, but Astoria's going to be sitting here, right across from me. There's another seat nearby though, right next to hers. You can sit there."

"How do you know she'll even be in Slytherin?" Pansy pointed out. "Is there really any point of saving her a seat if she doesn't get in?"

"She might not," Daphne conceded. "However, if she does, I don't want her to sit alone, next to total strangers!"

Daphne reluctantly sat down, and proceeded to talk to Draco from where she was. Draco was quite relieved when the Sorting actually started; he did not dislike Pansy, but she only ever talked about herself, or gossiped about other people, and to be frank, it bored him.

The Sorting began, and after the Sorting Hat finished it's song, Daphne commented to the entire Slytherin table," You know what I just realized? The way we quarrel, we're like a _family_ in here, don't you think?"

"No we're not," Blaise disagreed.

"Yes we are."Daphne argued.

"No we're-"

"Shhh, Blaise," Daphne shushed him. "The Sorting's going on."

"Fine," Blaise grumbled. "Have it your way, then."

The Sorting progressed up until at long last, "GREENGRASS, ASTORIA!" was called and a girl with long raven hair walked up to the seat. As Draco watched her, he noticed that she walked more confidently than most first years did. She did not look at all nervous as she sat down and the Sorting Hat was placed over her head. It paused for a long time. For a moment it looked as though it were about to open its brim to announce its decision, but Draco, from where he was seated in the front, could have sworn that Astoria actually closed it. To everyone else it appeared as though she was merely readjusting its position, but he was fairly certain that he knew what he saw. Very few people, if anyone else, seemed to notice though.

Finally, the Sorting Hat opened its brim for real this time, and roared, "SLYTHERIN!"

As Astoria stood up and the Hall clapped, no one clapped any more than Daphne did.

"THAT'S MY SISTER!"She shrieked with glee."MY SISTER, ASTORIA GREENGRASS, HAS JUST BEEN MADE A SLYTHERIN! MARK THIS DAY FOREVER I SAY, MARK IT!"

And with that being said she ran up to where Astoria, who was walking over to the Slytherin table, and engulfed her in a painfully tight looking hug.

"Miss Greengrass senior, please let go of your sister and may the two of you kindly return to your House table," Professor McGonagall called. "We are trying to proceed with the Sorting ceremony, if you don't mind."

"Sorry Professor, "Daphne apologized. She threw Astoria over her back like a sack of flour, carried her over to the Slytherin table, and placed her in the seat across from her, right next to Draco. Draco could not help but notice two things about Astoria. The first was that she looked completely unfazed by the events that had just happened, and secondly, her eyes were-

"Blue and green," Tracey breathed after the next person was Sorted. "I still can't get over the fact Astoria, that you have one blue eye and one green eye! When I imagined what color your eyes were, I never expected that!" It was true; one of Astoria's eyes was the exact same shade of green as Daphne's that the Greengrasses were known for-Greengrass green, it was called, due to its resemblance to the color of green grass- yet the other eye was blue.

Astoria smiled at Tracey and thanked her. "Thank you."

Daphne sighed. "Isn't she just the cutest thing ever?" Though she had to be quiet once more, due to the ceremony continuing. Eventually the Sorting ceremony was over, and Daphne immediately took it upon herself to introduce Astoria toe everyone in her year.

"Everyone, this is my adorable younger sister Astoria!" She informed them all. "So boys, you can be nice to her, but if you even think about laying a hand on her-, "Here she mimed slicing a throat open. She said this with a very evil glint in her eye that, quite frankly, was rather disturbing.

Draco was the first to break the silence. Turning to Astoria, he sneered, "So you're her sister, then?"

"Yes, "Astoria assured him, smiling at him.

"Oh you poor thing." He stated dully. It happened so quickly Draco could have sworn he imagined it, but he could have sworn he heard Astoria reply to him in a whisper over Daphne's shoulder as Daphne hugged her, "Yes, I know."

He smirked. Interesting.

"Hey, Daph," Millicent reminded her after a moment. "Aren't you going to introduce us to her?"

"Oh, right!" Daphne exclaimed. "Sorry! Astoria, this is…"

"Malfoy, "Draco interrupted. "Draco Malfoy." He expected Astoria to widen her eyes at his name, but she didn't. He didn't know why, but that both intrigued and annoyed him at the same time.

Daphne went around the group, introducing Astoria toe very Slytherin in her year. When she got to Pansy, the last one, Astoria greeted Pansy with a cheery," Hello! It's nice to meet you!"

"Hello."Pansy responded stiffly. She hadn't liked the way Draco had been getting on with Astoria earlier, for some reason.

As the Slytherins dug into their food, Draco eyed the younger Greengrass girl out of the corner of his eye, making conversation with her from time to time, mainly bragging to her about himself, while Astoria did listen and asked questions and talked about herself too, Pansy was giving her a beady eyed glare the entire time, eyes never straying from the pair for a minute…

**What was going on with Astoria and the Sorting Hat? I might make a companion piece to this chapter told from her P.O.V. It will also be explained next chapter, though. Also, it's implied Tracey and Astoria have met before now. That will be explained later on. Astoria's involvement in the plot and development as a character will be expanded later on, as well. **

**Please review! I allow anonymous reviews now, by the way. :D **


	9. Chap 9 The Sorting Hat's Opinion

**Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, added to favorites or alerts!*Hands out cyber ice cream cake* This chapter takes place… well, actually, I don't know when exavtly it takes place, but it takes place sometime after Astoria's been Sorted. Meaning any where from 3****rd**** year-7****th**** year. I might decide that this scene happens right before an event in a particular chapter later on…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter, ****or any of the characters used in this, except for my OC Arla Paxton.**

Chapter 9:The Sorting Hat's Opinion

Daphne entered the Headmaster's office and looked around. On the top shelf of one of the book cases rested the Sorting Hat. "Well, well," it commented, noticing Daphne. "Daphne Greengrass, are you in trouble?"

Daphne said nothing.

Some silence passed. Then:"I still say you should be in a House other than Slytherin, such as-"

"Hufflepuff, I know." Daphne interrupted. "But I still stick to my choice of being put in Slytherin."

"Do you now?"The Hat questioned. "Why is that? Is it for the same reason that I put you there in the first place: To please your parents? Both of whom were in Slytherin."

"It's because my sister Astoria is a Slytherin," Daphne replied. "And my friends are in Slytherin, too."

"Speaking of your sister," The Sorting Hat continued. "Did she ever tell you what happened during her Sorting?"

Daphne shook her head.

"I was about to place her in Ravenclaw, but right before I was about to announce my decision, she closed my brim."

"She what?" Daphne laughed in surprise.

"Closed my brim," The Sorting Hat repeated, slightly annoyed. "And practically begged me to put her in Slytherin. Do you know why?"

Daphne shook her head again.

"She wanted to go to Slytherin so she could keep an eye on you. Make sure you don't get into trouble. To take care of you. In other words, practically _babysit_ you. I reluctantly granted her wishes, but I think she belongs in Ravenclaw. Oh, she has characteristics of a Slytherin, but a good deal more traits of a Hufflepuff or a Gryffindor, while at the same time she's vastly intelligent and mature for her age. I think Ravenclaw or any of the other Houses really would have suited her best, but she insisted on Slytherin. Your sister really loves you, you know. I just thought you might want to know that."

Daphne was silent as she pondered what the Hat had told her. "I say we both belong in Slytherin. Heck, we belong anywhere as long as we're together. I don't care what you say: I'm pretty sure you're on drugs anyway."

"Why would you think that?" The Sorting Hat spluttered indignantly. "I happen to always be right, lucid, and sober you know. That's why I Sort students."

Daphne snorted. "Yeah, you always make smart decisions," she said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Peter Pettigrew being Sorted into Gryffindor was really very wise."

The Hat was about to reply when footsteps sounded from nearby…

**Please review! I have a new fic up now, entitled A Sorting to Remember, it's Astoria's P.O.V. about what really happened before and during her Sorting. Feel free to read that, if you like. How does Daphne know about Peter Pettigrew? All will be explained later on. Also, I know this chapter is rather short, so I was wondering: Which do you prefer, short chapters or long chapters? Please let me know in a review! :D **


	10. Pets

**Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, added to favorites, or alerts so much! *Hands out cyber goodie bags.* These next two chapters are going to be flashbacks necessary to understand chapter 12. Also, the story cover was drawn by me. Which took longer than you might expect lol; at one point I had to redraw it because, amongst other things, Tracey's arm wasn't properly attached, but in the cover on screen it is correctly attached, and she will not need surgery for her arm, lol. The characters in the cover from left to right are: Daphne, Arla, and Tracey. Anyway, this chapter takes place in the summer before third year… please enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter, ****or any of the characters used in this, except for my OC Arla Paxton.**

Chapter 10: Pets

Every Slytherin girl in Tracey's year had a pet. Everyone except Tracey, that is. Pansy, Daphne, and Arla all had owls. Millicent had a black cat with fur that matched her hair, and it was vicious towards anyone other than its owner (If only because it was frightened of her) who got in its way, except for Pansy, who it seemed to like. Tracey personally did not understand this, being as Pansy hated the cat, and was always annoyed whenever it got in her way. Daphne had one possible theory for this that could be summed up in four words: "Evil cat, evil girl."

Personally, Tracey believed she was right. The real problem for Tracey though was that she was the only Slytherin girl in her year without a pet…. And she was determined to get one.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

It was the summer before third year began that Tracey decided that this year she would like a pet for her birthday instead of some Muggle things or a visit to Ireland like last year. It was a few weeks before her birthday that she brought this idea up to her parents. They agreed, and went into Diagon Alley to go window shopping for what pets she might like. Tracey did not know what she wanted to get, exactly. Students at Hogwarts were allowed a cat, a dog, or a toad. (Although despite this, Ron Weasley was able to keep his pet rat, Scabbers. Hmmm….)

Tracey wanted to buy an animal that would make people look at her pet in wonder. Since her parents would not let her violate school rules, that left the three choices. An owl would be the most practical one to get. Whenever she wrote home she would use one of the school owls, or borrow Daphne or Arla's. If she had an owl of her own, she wouldn't have to rely on anyone else for an owl; she could be more independent. However, it was always easy to acquire and use an owl at Hogwarts, so in actuality it wasn't really that necessary. Moreover, a birthday gift, in Tracey's mind, shouldn't be a gift you actually need. It should be something fun and frivolous.

She knew having a pet took great responsibility, due to the fact she would be the only caring for it at Hogwarts, and she wanted a pet she would know was right as soon as she laid eyes on it. Owls mainly were able to take care of themselves, but maybe it was _because_ it was so sensible for her to get an owl it made her less certain about getting one.

She considered a toad, but she suspected she would turn into the female Slytherin version of Neville Longbottom: Always losing her toad. Tracey bore no grudges against Neville, but she could not deny he was always losing Trevor. Lord knew she was forgetful enough as it was without having to wonder where an amphibian was. A cat would be nice, but what if it had a problem with Millicent's cat? Millicent's cat didn't seem like it would get on well with other animals.

Tracey and her family wandered around all day, looking for a pet, and while Tracey being an animal person liked looking at all of them, she couldn't find one she wanted to keep. Finally, while they were at the Magical Menagerie, she saw him: There he was. A beautiful Siamese cat. And in that instant, Tracey knew: He was the one. She didn't care whether or not Millicent's cat would get along with hers, or how responsible she would have to be with it, she wanted him so badly that she was able to put up with all of that. Tracey enjoyed her birthday present very much that year, needless to say.

**Please review! :D **


	11. Choices

**A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who has followed, favorite, or reviewed! *Hands out chocolate mousse.* Also, I plan on creating covers for all of my fanfics, so for those interested my cover for ****A Sorting to Remember**** is now up and shows what Astoria looks like in this fic. Also, this chapter flashes back once again, to the spring of second year.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter**** or any of the characters used in this fanfic, except for my OC Arla Paxton. **

Chapter 11: Choices

The majority of the second year students were excited though some were nervous at the same time. They were in the process of choosing their elective classes for next year. For some students the decision was simple: Others had more difficulty deciding. Such as a certain trio of Slytherin girls. Daphne, Arla, and Tracey were all having trouble deciding what classes to take next year. There were five options: Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Muggle Studies.

Arla personally found all of these subjects fascinating, sans Divination.

"How do you not find the idea of seeing the future interesting?" Daphne gaped when Arla shared this point of view. They were sitting on their beds in the Girls' Dormitory along with Millicent and Pansy, all in their pajamas.

"It sounds like a very woolly subject to me," Arla explained. "Very few true Seers actually exist to begin with, so there's not much point in taking the class unless on the off chance you actually do turn out to be a Seer, there's not much you can actually learn that will be of use to you. Besides, my father took the subject when he was in school, and apparently the teacher, Professor Trelawney is, according to him , a total hoax, and an incredibly annoying one at that. She wasn't his teacher, but he knew her in school- they were students together at one point- and she would go around, bragging about supposedly possessing the Inner Eye, even though she obviously didn't, and he says to this day as far as he knows, she still doesn't. How she became a teacher here is beyond me…"

"So what you're saying in a nutshell is that essentially there's not much actual learning and therefore not much actual work you can really do in the class is there?" Pansy clarified.

"More or less." Arla confirmed.

"In that case, I'm doing it!" Pansy declared. "If I don't learn anything and my parents harass me about it, I'll just tell them what you said. But I think I can pass the class if I just fake everything, being as there's not much I can actually do. She probably doesn't expect much from us anyway. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity to hang out during class, sort of like how you can do anything in History of Magic and the teacher won't notice, that is, if you can stay awake long enough. I bet it's going to be _so_ easy. We can just talk all we want or pass notes during class. I'm definitely doing it. What about you, Millicent?"

"Ditto," Millicent agreed.

"I think I might like to take Divination too," Tracey said thoughtfully. "Considering how much trouble school is for me already, it would be nice to take an easy subject."

"Even though I might not be able to use what I learn," Daphne jumped in." I still think it would be interesting to learn about it anyway, I mean the subject does sound intriguing to me. Besides, this class might teach me how to tell a real Seer from a fake, which could be useful. Better yet, if the teacher is as much as a fake as you say she is, I could learn acting lessons from this! Two things for the price of one: Divination and acting!"

"I really don't think you need acting lessons Daphne," Arla stated darkly, remembering the bee stunt she had pulled last year.

"It would help me improve at any rate," Daphne insisted. "It would broaden my imagination too, and improve my creative writing as well."

"Since when do you even do creative writing?" Arla interjected. "And I think your imagination's broad enough as it is." Arla shuddered at the thought of Daphne imagining more ways to get into trouble.

"Well, I do creative writing," Said Tracey. "And now that I think about it, this class could help strengthen my creativity. I'm signing up!"

"Besides, maybe I actually do possess the Inner Eye," Daphne continued. "How cool would that be? I could save your lives and you would all owe me!"

"Daphne, even if you did turn out to possess the Inner Eye, would you really want to use it?" Arla questioned skeptically. "I mean, where's the fun in knowing what's going to happen?"

"Fair point, Arla," Daphne mused. "However being a Seer doesn't mean I know _everything_ that's going to happen. And there definitely have been times in the past when I could have used having an Inner Eye."

"Such as?" Arla asked before she could stop herself.

"There was this one time when I was younger," Daphne began as a sinking feeling formed in Arla's stomach. "When my father had recently brewed a Headache Potion. It was a pretty pink liquid and I knew Headache Potions tasted delicious, but what I didn't know at the time-I was only seven years old- was that you were only supposed to take it if you had a headache, and even then you were only supposed to take it in certain doses. All I was thinking of at the time was: _Ooooh, tasty!_ And…I drank the whole thing all at once."

Gasps rang out everywhere in the room.

"Astoria was the one who found me. Somehow, even at the age of five, she knew something was wrong and told our parents, who rushed me to St. Mungo's Hospital. I was okay, but all that trouble never would have happened if I had Saw what was going to happen."

"There was also the time when my parents were taking me shopping with them in Diagon Alley- I was five at the time- and I wandered out of their sight while they were busy talking to their friends to go exploring, and I went into Knockturn Alley by myself. I ran into Borgin and Burkes through the back way so no one saw me, and found this Death Eater mask hanging on one of the shelves complete with a set of robes. I tried them on but the mask wouldn't come off. I decided I should find my parents and see if they could get it off, and, still wearing the stolen mask and robes, ran out of the shop to find my parents.

"People kept staring at me, wondering if I was some miniature Death Eater. When I got to Diagon Alley, people were told to stay indoors and weren't allowed to leave the stores because people were assuming I was some short Death Eater. Other countries were informed about the situation as well. A bunch of Aurors found me and had their wands raised at me when I waved hello to them, and finally someone realized that I was just a kid in a Death Eater costume, and they took me to my parents- who were still with their friends and hadn't even noticed I was gone- with me still in my current attire, asking 'Is this your child?'

I was like, 'Hi Mummy, hi Daddy!' They figured out how to get the mask off me, and the Ministry of Magic was contacted to let everyone know it was a false alarm, the Dark Lord had not returned and it was just some child dressed up as a Death Eater by mistake. If I were able to See into the future, I would not have caused an international crisis for an hour."

"That was you?" Arla gaped. "I had heard about that when I was little in Ireland; my parents' jobs required them to go back to work that day to make sure everything was okay instead of answering a very important question I had at the time. I can't believe you caused an international crisis when you were five years old!"

"For some reason, I'm not as surprised to hear this as I probably should be." Pansy muttered, despite shock being evident on her face. "Just goes to show what I've grown accustomed to…"

"What question were you going to ask them anyway?" Millicent enquired.

"I was right in the middle of asking them how babies were born." Arla replied. "But they were saved from answering by an international crisis caused by a certain _someone_." Here she glared at Daphne.

"Well, they answered your question eventually, right?" Daphne prompted. "Because if they neglected to, I'll be happy to tell you-"

"Yes," Arla assured her hurriedly, not wanting to receive that kind of talk from her friend. "They told me! They told me! Holy mother of God, don't start trying to give me a talk about _that_!"

"I can think of other instances I can think of when I could have saved myself as well as other people a lot of trouble if I just had the Inner Eye. For instance that time when –"Daphne was cut off by Arla once more.

"Okay, take Divination! It is amazing you have survived this long in life, and maybe you're right that you need to open your Inner Eye if you have one. So please, for the love of God, take Divination! I suspect that millions of lives will be saved if you do!" Arla interrupted.

"Okay then." Daphne shrugged as she turned off the lights.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

Tracey was stumped as she stared at the forms for elective classes next year she needed to fill out. She knew she would be taking Divination and Care of Magical Creatures, but she was stumped as to whether or not she should take Muggle Studies, Arithmancy, or Ancient Runes. The minimum amount of subjects she had to choose from was two. She could just take Care of Magical Creatures and Divination and be done with it; she could always use the extra gap in her schedule for extra studying, or working on her writing or drawing. However, she was also interested in two other subjects: Muggle Studies and the Study of Ancient Runes.

But she could only choose one without having to apply for a Time Turner, and she seriously doubted the school would allow her one. Besides, she was sure she would be overworked even if she could take both. Tracey's mother was an Ancient Runes Specialist. She worked with runes every day and though Tracey could not understand them, she was fascinated by them. Her mother had told her about them, and Tracey had a strong desire to learn more about them. There was another reason she wanted to take Ancient Runes though.

Tracey, Daphne, and Arla all tried to keep their Muggle loving tendencies on the down low from their classmates, being as several students in their House and year were prejudiced against Muggles and Muggleborns and if they expressed their interests in Muggles too much in front of them, it might upset them. She had heard about how Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle bullied Muggle-Borns and Blood Traitors, and didn't want to be in that position. Pansy was a blood purist too and while she had not outright become a bully (yet) Tracey had noticed her getting slightly and steadily meaner over time, and suspected she wouldn't hold back when people did things that annoyed her in a year or two, and the person on the receiving end of her rage would be very sorry indeed. Daphne and Arla, however, were both planning on taking Muggle Studies. Surely they had the same worries she had concerning that class. Yet they were still taking it. So why shouldn't she?

The answer was because, Tracey knew, they could both stick up for themselves if people gave them grief over taking Muggle Studies. And if they stood up for themselves, people were almost guaranteed to back off. Why? Tracey personally did not think it was so much because of their bravery(although she suspected that was part of it)but more so because of their connections. Daphne came from an elite pureblood family that was respectable in Slytherin House due to the fact that her blood was probably more pure than most members of Slytherin, and her family was also richer than most members of Slytherin with connections to the Ministry of Magic. Although Tracey knew Daphne would never do this, Daphne could always threaten to have harassers' parents get in trouble with the ministry. Most people who would harass her over something like taking Muggle Studies were the children of Death Eaters from the war all those years ago. Daphne could get their parents thrown in Azkaban if she happened to overhear any juicy news about them or pretended she knew they were up to something.(Which they most likely were.)

Arla was the daughter of a well-known Irish reporter and her father was secretary to the Minister for Magic in Ireland. She was only half-blood, but she too had the same connections. They knew how to protect themselves. But Tracey didn't have the same connections for her. Her parents held no connection whatsoever to people high up in the Ministry of Magic. She didn't think she was brave enough to even stand up for herself. What would prevent people from giving her trouble if she chose that class? In her mind, nothing. Absolutely nothing.

So she chose Ancient Runes over Muggle Studies; it was self-preservation on her part. Besides, she honestly was quite interested in Ancient Runes, and she bet her mother would be proud of her for choosing the course. (She also knew her parents still would have been proud even if she had chosen Muggle Studies.)

So she chose Ancient Runes over Muggle Studies, knowing her interest in the course was only half the reason for taking it.

**This is the last of the flashbacks for now, and next chapter will flash forward to right after Astoria's Sorting. The flashbacks contain necessary information for next chapter. **

**Questions: If you went to Hogwarts, what classes would you have chosen? Did Tracey make the right choice? What would you have done in her situation? Do you think Tracey's worries over taking Muggle Studies are really rational? Why or why not? **

**Please review! :D **


	12. The Silver Trio

**A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, added to favorites or story alerts ! *Hands out cyber chocolate of your choice.* The flashbacks are temporarily over and for a while the story is going to pick up right after Astoria's Sorting and continue on from there…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter**** or any of the characters used in this fan fiction, except for my OC Arla Paxton. I also do not own the ****Powerpuff Girls****. I do not own ****Fruits Basket.**

Chapter 12: The Silver Trio

After the feast ended, the Slytherins walked to their common room. The boys went down one staircase (located at the right of the common room) and the girls went down a separate staircase(located at the left of the common room.) Meanwhile, Arla, Tracey, and Daphne were talking about a TV show they had watched with Astoria on the way to Hogwarts that Arla and Tracey had both watched over the summer: The Powerpuff Girls.

"That show is really cool," Astoria jumped in to the conversation. "But I feel slightly uncomfortable watching it."

"Oh, why is that 'Storia?" Tracey asked. Tracey had been calling Astoria an assortment of nicknames since the moment they had met.

"Well, even though they are clearly strong fighters, prove that girls aren't all weak and helpless, are brave, and have all of these wonderful qualities and can take care of themselves while fighting crime…"

"What is it you're getting at, 'Stori?" Tracey interrupted, if only to try out this nickname.

"Even though from the episodes we saw the Powerpuff Girls won, they are in fights where their opponents are expected to hit back, and since some of their enemies are adults and the Powerpuff Girls are only five years old… "Astoria waited a moment to let her sentence sink in. Then-

"Ohhhh." The older girls chorused, seeing her point.

"I know it's just a cartoon and is of course, not real-"Astoria began but was caught off by Daphne.

"They're not?!" Daphne exclaimed, genuinely shocked.

Everyone stared at Daphne, all feeling slightly concerned about her reaction.

"No Daphne, they're not," Arla said slowly, then sighed. "This is just like Furuba all over again."

Upon seeing Astoria's confused look, she explained. "There was this Muggle manga we read- manga is Japanese comics- called Fruits Basket, although its nickname is Furuba. Anyway, so in Fruits Basket, certain characters turn into animals if they are hugged by members of the opposite sex unless they are members of something called the Zodiac; I'll explain that to you another time if you want. Now, I didn't realize at the time that Daphne would not be able to realize this was only fiction, and the day after I introduced it to her, she randomly ran around hugging boys- many of whom she didn't even know- just to see what would happen. Although she hugged Blaise Zabini more than a few times, so I think she may have had some ulterior motives behind it-"

"La la la la la, I can't hear you! "Daphne sang, putting her hands over her ears, fighting off a blush."La la l-"

Astoria removed Daphne's hands from her ears and gave Daphne a quelling sort of look that caused her to be quiet.

"Daphne," Astoria stated in a calm, yet threatening voice. "You're scaring the civilians." Here she motioned towards some nearby first years on their way to the dorm.

"Oh," Daphne mumbled.

Arla and Tracey could not believe what they were witnessing. Daphne Greengrass actually having someone able to control her. This girl must be some sort of genius.

"So, back to our original topic," Astoria continued brightly, as if there had been no interruption. "I don't think Professor Utonium is good at parenting, letting these little girls fight crime. Oh, he seems nice enough, but even with their super powers I don't think it's a good idea, for some reason. Oh, here's my dorm." Astoria stopped talking as the female Slytherin prefect assigned to helping the first year Slytherin girls showed the rest of the girls in Astoria's year their new dormitory. "I have to go in now, see you tomorrow Tracey, Aral, and Daphne. Good night."

And with that being said Astoria gave Daphne a quick good night hug, intending that to be all, but Daphne had other ideas.

"You just tell your big sis if you need anything in the middle of the night, okay?" Daphne embraced Astoria in a hug so tight it was amazing Astoria did not even look as though she were about to suffocate. "If you get lonely in the middle of the night, you know where my dorm is, right?"

"Yes Daphne," Astoria assured her, noticing the stares from the Prefect and her new classmates. "I'll be okay, I'm sure. "

"Okay," Daphne waved goodbye as Astoria entered her dorm.

"Now then," Daphne rubbed her hands together, grinning mischievously. "Let the fun begin!"

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

"Heelllo!~" Daphne sang, announcing her entrance into the Slytherin Girls' Third Year Dormitory.

Tracey and Arla followed her in. Pansy and Millicent were in there, already changed into their pajamas.

"What took you three, Paxton, Greengrass, and Davis?" Millicent asked.

"We don't go by those names anymore," Daphne informed her. "I'm Blossom, Tracey is Bubbles, and Aral is Buttercup."

"What, why do you get to be Blossom?" Aral demanded.

"Because I'm the leader," Daphne replied.

"Since when?" Aral enquired, slightly indignant.

Before Daphne could answer, Pansy piped up, "What the hell are you three-whatever your names are- talking about? Or do I not want to know?"

The girls thought a moment before answering. "Yeah, probably not." The three chorused.

Pansy sighed. "For some reason I suspected that that would be the answer."

"Anyway, I think Arla should be Blossom, because she's arguably the cleverest and in our silver trio Arla is clearly the cleverest." Tracey opinionated.

"Silver trio?" Everyone in the room echoed.

"Well, you know how Harry Potter and his friends are called the Golden Trio because they're in Gryffindor, and Gryffindor's colors are red and gold? Well I thought we could be the Silver Trio, because we're in Slytherin and our house colors are green and silver." Tracey explained.

"Oh." Everyone understood now. Then: "But wait a moment. Silver is worth less than gold. That's like saying that we're inferior to Hermione Granger and her friends, which I most certainly am not- er, I mean, _we_ are not." Arla corrected herself.

"Oh, right," Tracey stated, slightly glum. "I thought it was pretty clever at the time."

"It was." Arla assured her.

"More importantly," Daphne solicited. "Since when is Arla the cleverest?"

Everyone could see this was not going to end well, so Tracey broke the silence with a loud cry of, "PILLOW FIGHT!"

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

All five of the girls had pillow fights, and enjoyed themselves immensely. It was clear that even though they were not keeping score, Daphne clearly would have won if they were. Daphne even managed to knock Tracey out at one point, however she soon regained consciousness.

"Okay Arla, I've decided to let you be Blossom instead; If my pillow fighting skills are anything to go by, I'd make a kick ass Buttercup. "Daphne declared to Arla.

"Thank you." Aral stated dryly.

"You're welcome. "Daphne responded, missing the sarcasm.

The rest of the girls laughed at this. Daphne laughed too, despite not knowing why they were laughing.

The girls soon immersed themselves in conversation. Eventually, the topic of what electives they'd be taking this year came up. Millicent and Pansy were taking Care of Magical Creatures and Divination together. Tracey, Arla and Daphne responded that they'd all be taking Care of Magical Creatures too. Every Slytherin girl in their year except for Arla would be taking Divination.

"Hey Paxton, if you aren't taking Divination what are you taking, besides Care of Magical Creatures?" Pansy inquired.

Arla hesitated a moment before answering. "Arithmancy… and Muggle Studies."

Millicent and Pansy stared at her.

"_Muggle Studies?!" _Pansy cried. "Why would you want to take a class like that, Paxton?"

"I'm taking Muggle Studies too," Daphne piped up. "And so is Tracey."

"Actually Daph, I'm not." Tracey mumbled. She had not lied and told them that she was, but she had not told then she would be taking Ancient Runes instead, leading them to assume she would be taking Muggle Studies with them; whenever Daphne and Arla started talking about Muggle Studies, she had not joined in. "I may not have mentioned this to you yet, but I'm taking Ancient Runes instead."

"Good for you Tracey," Pansy walked over to her, glowering at Daphne and Arla, while Millicent pat Tracey on the back, something that shocked Tracey to no end, being that from Millicent that pretty much meant something along the lines of' let's be friends and hop through fields of flowers with a colony of rabbits running with us.' Tracey, who had been trying to befriend Millicent since last Halloween and had failed each time, was shocked into silence. Meanwhile, Pansy went on," At least you're not studying filth about _Muggles_. I can't believe there are blood traitors here in my very dormitory!"

"Pansy, we are taking Muggle Studies. I apologize if you or Millicent have some sort of problem with that, but we are and that's not changing anytime in the foreseeable future, so you'll just have to live with it, okay? We're not harassing you over what classes you chose, and badgering us about our selections- which are not your concern, by the way- won't make anything better for either of us. If you proceed to bother us about this, or cause my sister any trouble for my actions, I will go all Buttercup on you, like I did Tracey in that pillow fight." Daphne warned Pansy coolly.

"Er, what Daphne might mean to say is," Arla intervened, deciding that since Daphne technically just threatened Pansy indirectly with violence that might not be the best approach, she should step in and say something. "Is that the best way to know your enemy is to learn more about them."

"Oh," Pansy and Millicent both relaxed. "I think we get it now. Sorry."

"No problem," Arla shrugged. The others apart from Pansy and Millicent all knew that that was not what Daphne was trying to say at all, but Arla had felt it best to take this approach; it was not technically lying, being as Arla had not said explicitly that she and Daphne were taking Muggle Studies because they regarded Muggles as their enemy: It was just something that could be inferred from that statement and therefore satisfied Pansy and Millicent. Daphne could have meant to say that, even though she hadn't so in fact Arla had not lied at all. As Tracey crawled into bed, she could not help but marvel at how easy that situation was taken care of, and realized all of her worries earlier about taking Muggle Studies were more or less pointless.

"Thanks," Daphne whispered to Arla.

"Anytime," Arla then added," That's why I'm Blossom."

**Please review! :D **


	13. Animals, Arithmancy, and Astoria

**A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who has added to favorites, story alerts, or reviewed! *Hands out cyber cookies.* This chapter picks up from last time….**

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter**** or any of the characters used in this fanfic, except for my OC Arla Paxton.**

Chapter 13:Animals, Arithmancy, and Astoria

The third year Slytherin girls awoke that morning to the sound of a blood curdling scream. "What's going on?" Tracey mumbled, opening the curtains of her canopy bed as the other girls did the same. Pansy Parkinson- who had evidently let out the howl– stood before them wearing just a towel that was wrapped securely around her body.

"I will tell you what is going on," she breathed. "I was just about to step into the shower when guess what I found?"

"What?" Millicent asked her.

"_A cat!"_Pansy shrieked. "And not your cat Millicent, but a cat who I have never seen before in my life!"

Realization suddenly hit Tracey like a ton of bricks. "Pansy, is the cat still there?"

"Last time I checked," Pansy sniffed. "I was just about to enter the shower and turn the water on when I found it there, staring at me without this towel on, as if waiting for me to get in and bathe with it! By the way, aren't cats supposed to hate water? What was it doing there anyway? I swear to God, that cat must be some sort of bloody _pervert_! "

Suddenly a thought occurred to Pansy. "Wait a minute," she whispered. "You know what Animagi are, right?"

The rest of the group nodded, wondering what Pansy was getting at.

"Maybe it's not a cat in the shower, but an Animagi. That would explain why it was hiding in the shower and is actually some sort of weirdo who…" Pansy shuddered and Millicent's eyes widened.

"Oh my God," Millicent stated quietly. "Pansy, do you think it could actually be an Animagus?"

"I don't know," Pansy was truly frightened, but at the same time she could not help but relish the effect she was producing as all eyes were on her." But I'll show you all the cat like Tracey suggested, and then we'll decide what to do."

"We should bring our wands with us," Millicent grunted.

"Girls, I highly doubt that that cat is an Animagus," Arla reasoned. "What would an Animagus be doing in our bathroom? Moreover, how would it even get into Hogwarts?"

"Someone could have brought it along with them as a pet without realizing what it really was, "Pansy murmured. "Or they could have known what it was and brought it with them for some sinister purpose."

"And what would that purpose possibly be?"Arla inquired skeptically.

"I don't know, maybe to steal stuff from us, "Pansy shrugged. "Who cares about any of that though Arla? There may very well be an Animagus in our shower, and it is possible that we are in grave danger."

"And it is much more likely that it is not an Animagus but merely someone's cat that has detached itself from its owner temporarily." Arla argued.

"Look, how about we just go into the bathroom and see if any of us can verify whether it's a cat or an Animagus." Daphne intervened, attempting to be the mediator.

"Okay," Millicent and Pansy gave nods of agreement.

Fortunately, neither of the two girls realized that debating over whether or not a cat is an Animagus that may be an Animagus in actuality was not a good idea, but the other three girls were not nervous. They had a feeling that they knew who the cat was and decided it best not to point this rather obvious fact out to their other classmates, who evidently were not very street smart.

All five girls carried their wands, and went in the bathroom, only to find Tracey's cat resting in the showers.

"Pansy, that's not an Animagus, that's my cat." Tracey tried saying this in as calm a voice as possible, though on the inside she was nervously awaiting Pansy's undoubtedly negative reaction.

"Since when do you have a cat?" Pansy exclaimed.

"I just got it for my birthday last summer."Tracey explained.

"Why did you not tell us?" Pansy demanded.

"She told Arla and I, "Daphne piped up."But she didn't tell you and Millicent because what with the Dementor on the train yesterday, and Astoria getting Sorted, it was a pretty busy day and I'm sure it just slipped her mind."

"That's right," Tracey confirmed."You know how forgetful I am. I forgot to tell you. Sorry."

"Wait, where did it sleep last night then?"Pansy wondered.

"It was in the Pet Parlor, "Tracey replied. In the dormitories, there was a special room where pets were allowed to reside if for some reason they couldn't stay in their owner's room- such as if one of their dorm mates had an allergy to the pet-, or if the owner just preferred them to stay there. "I realized that soon after we went to bed, and thought that Snowfall would like to sleep in my bed rather than with some other pets he doesn't even know. I guess he must have crawled out during the night and that's why Pansy found him here."

"Tracey, you are certain that Snowfall is a boy, right?" Millicent solicited for clarification.

"The owner of the store said he was a boy." Tracey answered.

"Good, "Millicent commended."Now we don't have to worry about Night Wing and Snowfall having any babies together."Night Wing was the name of Millicent's black cat. "Speak of the devil, there he is now."

Night Wing approached the door, and strut into the room. Tracey suddenly felt very nervous; she knew Night Wing was only fond of certain humans (namely Pansy and Millicent) and suspected he would be even less fond of other cats. Night Wing approached Snowfall, his green eyes boring into Snowfall's blue. Both cats' hair stood up on their backs and they growled at each other, although Night Wing was clearly the more aggressive of the two.

"Bad cats!"Millicent growled louder than even Night Wing. Both cats fell silent, still glaring at each other. Turning to Tracey, she said,"I'll go put Night Wing in the Pet Parlor, and for today let's keep Snowfall in the dorm. It'll probably take them some time getting used to each other, so we should separate them for a while."

"Okay." Tracey nodded in agreement.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

The girls sat down at the Slytherin table for breakfast. It was a beautiful day, one could tell from looking up at the ceiling which reflected the weather outside.

"I swear to God, finding your cat in the shower of all places was the freakiest event in my entire life!" Pansy was still talking about the incident, being as she wanted it to attract Draco's attention; even Draco could not help but be intrigued by what she was saying. Sure enough, she was right.

"What did you just say?" Draco did not think he could possibly have heard correctly.

Pansy proceeded to fill him in on the events that had transpired before they had gone down to breakfast. "So this morning, I go into the bathroom to take a shower, but when I open the door I find a cat sitting there that I have never seen before in my life! I scream, and all the other girls wake up and ask me what's going on. So I tell them, and Arla totally panics and thinks that it must be an Animagus or something. But I tell her, 'Don't be ridiculous Aral, of course it's not an Animagus, why would an Animagus be in our bathroom-"

"Those last couple of sentences are inaccurate, "Arla interjected." You were the one who thought it was an Animagus and I was the one who was being rational and attempting to reason with you, Pansy."

"Anyway, "Pansy pressed on loudly as if she had not been interrupted. "We went in to look at the cat, and low and behold Tracey suddenly remembers that she had received a cat for her birthday last summer, forgot to tell us, and identifies the feline as hers!"Pansy looked at Draco, waiting for his reaction.

Draco howled with laughter at this, while Pansy looked slightly miffed. "Why are you laughing?"

"I can't believe Davis got a cat and neglected to tell you about it, and you didn't discover this until you found it in the shower of all places! Wait a minute, why was it there? Don't cats hate water?"Draco wondered aloud suddenly.

"That's exactly what I said! Well, I hadn't turned the water on yet so the shower was still dry, but you'd think it would have wandered someplace else!"Pansy beamed, realizing that although she had not found the experience funny at the time, it actually was rather amusing and better yet, she had made Draco Malfoy laugh. Oh today was going to be a very good day indeed.

"Oh my God Astoria, you look so pretty wearing your new Slytherin uniform!" Daphne squealed as Astoria Greengrass made her way over to the Slytherin table and sat down in the seat between Draco and Daphne.(Pansy was seated to Draco's left while Astoria was seated to Draco's right.) Judging by how Draco was looking at Astoria, he evidently was having the same thoughts as Daphne on her sister's appearance. Pansy scowled. Her day had suddenly gone downhill.

"Greengrass Junior, you'll never believe what happened in the girls' dorm this morning…" And with that being said Draco proceeded to regale Astoria with the events Pansy had told him, except he told the truth about Arla having to calm Pansy overreacting instead of vice versa. Astoria was laughing heartily by the time he was finished. Her laugh wasn't like some other Slytherins' though; her laugh did not sound like she was laughing _at_ anyone, but she was laughing _with_ them. Draco was laughing with her while Pansy looked on in annoyance.

_Why is he spending time with _her? She thought to herself. _And what's with that nickname, Greengrass Junior? It sounds almost like a pet name. She's just some first year he met yesterday. Wait that's it, it's _because_ she's a first year he's talking to her like this. He's just trying to make her feel at home at Hogwarts. Wait, if that's the reason why isn't he doing this to any of the other first years?_

"Wow that must have been quite a shock for you, finding some strange cat in the shower! I probably would have reacted the same if I was in your position." Astoria smiled at Pansy, breaking her train of thought. Pansy grunted in response. Pansy would not say it out loud, but the younger Greengrass certainly was rather kind and friendly, and appeared to be completely sane, which was surprising considering what sort of sister she had grown up with. Suddenly a thought occurred to her.

"Greengrass Junior-"(She decided that Draco should not be the only one to address Astoria as this.)"Do you know what your sister did to you last year?"

Astoria blinked in confusion."What do you mean?"

"She drugged you and attempted to sneak you into the school. Didn't she tell you about that?"Pansy was mainly asking about thnis being as it had been something she had been wondering about for some time now, ever since Daphne had snuck Astoria into the school last year.

"SHE WHAT?" Clearly Astoria had been unaware of this.

A look of realization spread across Draco's face. "That explains it now."

"Explains what?"Astoria solicited, looking nervously out of the corner of her eye at Daphne.

"When I was on the train to Hogwarts on the first day of my second year, a long, long time ago," Draco told her, relishing how she was hanging on to his every word." I stopped by your sister's compartment and saw something move in her trunk. I realize now that must have been you."

Then turning to Daphne, he stated disgustedly, "You would drug your own sister in an attempt to sneak her into Hogwarts and not even tell her after the whole ordeal was over, Greengrass? How appalling."

"One, let's get something straight: I did NOT, N-O-T, NOT drug my sister. I merely gave her a Sleeping Potion so she was asleep the entire time. Secondly, I only tried sneaking her in because I thought she'd be happier here than at home; besides, she'd be starting here in a year anyway, would there honestly be any harm in her starting a year early? Thirdly, she was never in any danger."Daphne defended."Nothing bad happened to her."

"Actually," Arla reminisced". I believe I recall that you-inadvertently of course- gave her an overdose of sleeping potion and there was a brief period of time when we were uncertain as to whether or not she was going to die. Although according to Madame Pomfrey she was never in any immediate danger, she was asleep for a few days."

Astoria was nonplussed upon hearing the recollection. "I think maybe I should go sit with some people in my year." And with that being said she slowly stood up and moved to a different section of the table, looking thoroughly traumatized.

"Nice going Pansy," Daphne griped as Astoria left . Pansy shrugged. She had asked Astoria this mainly out of curiosity, and if it caused her to leave Draco alone for at least a little bit, that was just a bonus. Pansy did not regret telling Astoria that; she had a right to know the truth and it gave Pansy more time now to talk to Draco. A moment later Professor Snape approached their table and gave them all their schedules.

Their schedules worked differently than last year: Last year, all of the classes would contain all of the Slytherins in their year and one of the other Houses, depending on the class, and the Slytherins were in always all the same classes together. However, due to their taking electives this year, and they weren't all taking the same electives, and some were taking more than others, certain electives would be scheduled at a certain time and anyone not taking that particular class would have a study hall. The rest of their classes were just like last year though. As Arla peered over her schedule, it read:

9:00A.M.- 10:15: Transfiguration

10:30A.M-11:45A.M.: Arithmancy

Lunch

1:00P.M-2:15P.M.: Herbology

2:30P.M.-3:45P.M. Care of Magical Creatures

Arla peered over to read Daphne's schedule, which read:

9:00A.M.- 10:15: Transfiguration

10:30A.M-11:45A.M.: Divination

Lunch

1:00P.M-2:15P.M.: Herbology

2:30P.M.-3:45P.M. Care of Magical Creatures

Tracey's schedule was the same as Daphne's. Soon the girls finished eating breakfast, and went to their first class, which every Slytherin in their year had at that time with the Ravenclaws. Afterwards, Arla left the rest of her class to make her way over to her Arithmancy classroom as everyone else ambled over to Divination. To her surprise, she wasn't alone; Blaise Zabini was coming with her.

"Blaise, you're taking Arithmancy too?"Arla deduced in surprise.

Blaise nodded."Yeah I am: Divination does not seem to have a large amount of worth or use as a subject if you ask me, except of course on the off chance you actually are a Seer. "

"Thank you!"Arla exclaimed in agreement."I don't understand why so many people are taking it; you really can't use much of what you learn unless you actually do possess the Inner Eye, and while I do not think it a waste of education learning a subject you are unlikely to use very often- being as you can still find ways it can still be an enriching experience- I'm almost certain that the majority of people taking that subject are only taking it because they think it's going to be one of the easier electives available. I mean, it's one thing if you think it's an interesting subject, but that doesn't seem to be the main reason most people are taking it. I suspect many people are going to find it harder than they expected it to be. Besides, my dad knew Trelawney in school, and according to him she's a hoax. Divination for the most part also appears to me to be just a lot of guess work anyway."

"Exactly." Blaise agreed. "No one else I've talked to has seemed to realize any of that for some reason. "

"Did you have a nice summer?" Arla inquired as they neared the classroom wqhere Arithmancy was held. It was strange, talking to Blaise like this. It wasn't like they had never talked to each other or anything, but they rarely had actual conversations like this aside from talk about schoolwork or Daphne somehow being the reason they were interacting. In fact, Arla realized this was probably the first time she had actually asked him how his holidays were.

"It was enjoyable enough."Blaise replied."And yours?"

"It was fun," Arla answered as they entered the room. They were the first ones in the room, with only one exception: The exception of course, being Hermione Granger. Arla narrowed her eyes at her; how had she managed to arrive so quickly? It was then that Arla noticed that unlike most of their classes where the desks were arranged into columns and rows, there were only eight desks apart from the teacher's desk and they were aligned in a single row. "Make sure you beat her in every exam, "Blaise whispered to her out of the corner of his mouth."If anyone can finally beat Granger at something, it's you, Paxton."

"I assure you, I shall." Arla smirked.

Arla and Blaise took seats next to each other far away from Granger as they waited for the rest of the class to arrive. By the time the bell rang, five other people joined them: Four Ravenclaws (Padma Patil, Anthony Goldstein, Terry Boot, and Michael Corner.) And one Hufflepuff: Sally-Anne Perks. Sally sat down next to Arla and the two began to chat about their summers eagerly: Despite their House differences, Arla and Sally-Anne were still friends and none of the Slytherins gave them much grief over this: the Perks actually had been a fairly well known group of Pureblood Death Eaters during the war so most of the Slytherins who ordinarily might badger Arla about befriending a Hufflepuff had some sort of connection to the Perks, and realized it was none of their business who the daughter of wealthy Pureblood Death Eaters who may or may not still be involved with the Dark Arts somehow and could curse their families was friends with. Although Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were not well known for being fast friends with each other, they had nowhere near as much rivalry as Slytherin had with Gryffindor, so even if the Perks did not have all of these connections with some of Slytherin's inhabitants, it was unlikely anyone would bother Arla much about her choice in friends, being as Sally-Anne was Pureblood. If Sally-Anne had been born a Muggle-Born however, that may very well be a different story.

Sally-Anne (or just Sally, as she sometimes preferred to be called) was practically the opposite from her Death Eater family though. She was just as much as a Blood Traitor as Arla was, (although the rest of the Slytherins didn't need to know that) and was a true Hufflepuff through and through: She was fair, tolerant, accepting, hardworking, loyal, and honest.

A very attractive woman entered the room. She possessed lily white skin, jet black hair cascading down her shoulders, and exceptionally light brown eyes. Arla had to admire her fashion sense; she adorned fiery red dress robes with a matching hat and blood red high heels, though her heels were only a couple of inches high. Red truly was her color, although she did appear to be the type of person who all colors suited quite well. She possessed an air of poise and carried herself gracefully. Michael Corner actually whistled at her as she walked in the room, much to all of the females in the room's disgust.

"Young man, what is your name?"The woman asked in a sweet tone of voice that reminded Arla of honey.

"Michael Corner Maam," Michael had evidently remembered his manners and now realized maybe greeting an older woman this way who could quite possibly turn out to be his Arithmancy teacher was not one of his best ideas.

"I see."The woman sat down at her desk, pulling out a file from within one of the drawers. "Michael, did you happen to notice the hourglasses representing the House points before you arrived to class?"

"Yes Maam, I passed them on my way here."Michael supplied.

"Tell me, how many points does Ravenclaw have at the moment Mr. Corner?" She inquired.

"Ten points." Michael boasted proudly.

"My my, for students that have only began attending lessons for just over an hour now, that is quite the achievement, don't you agree?"The woman prompted.

"Of course Maam," Michael added."Although Ravenclaw certainly has some exceptional students in it."

"Oh yes, exceptional is one word you could use I suppose, "the fair skinned female's voice had lost its honey like quality and she narrowed her eyes at Michael in distaste."Ten points from Ravenclaw."

The Ravenclaws' jaws dropped at this.

"But Maam,"Michael protested."It's only the first day and that's all of the points we have!"

"Be that as it may, "the amber eyed brunette's tone of voice ceased Michael's protesting instantaneously, much like Snape or McGonagall could." I will not tolerate that sort of cheek in my class, understood? No disrespect of any sort is tolerated whatsoever. Be grateful that the amount of points I took away is not larger, if only because Ravenclaw has not earned any more points yet. Also, while the rest of the class has no homework tonight, being as it is only the first day, you, Mr. Corner, will be expected to write a ten inch essay on proper conduct when addressing a teacher.

"As for the rest of you, I apologize for having to begin a class this way due to one of your classmate's improper conduct. I will have you know that in the future I normally do not dock House points, being as I see no reason to punish an entire group for one individual's inappropriate behavior. However, being as this is the first day of school, let that be a lesson to you all that I will if need be, and such behavior is absolutely unacceptable. Moving on, homework is assigned almost every class, except for the first day of school. This includes weekends and holidays as well. My name is Professor Vector and you are to refer to me as such. I hope this year will be very enjoyable for us all. From what I have heard you all are good students-"(here she paused and looked at Michael skeptically)", however you may still find this class difficult. Arithmancy is thought by many to be one of the more advanced subjects at Hogwarts, but I am always willing to help students who are having trouble. Are there any questions?"

No one had appeared to have any. Personally, Aral liked Professor Vector already; she appeared to be firm, but fair.

"Good. Now, please take out your Arithmancy textbook and turn to page…"

As the lesson went on, Professor Vector discussed activities they would be doing that year and the learning material and criteria. She was much friendlier by the end of class than she was at the beginning. As Arla left Arithmancy to proceed to the Great Hall for lunch she suspected Arithmancy was going to be a rather enjoyable subject and wondered what her friends had been doing in Divination…

**A/N: What do you think so far about Professor Vector? About Astoria? Did you suspect it was Tracey's cat in the bathroom? What do you think about Sally-Anne Perks and her relationships with the Slytherins? Why do you think she's so different from the rest of her family? Please review! :D **


	14. Death and Divination

**A/N:Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, added to favorites or story alerts thus far!*Hands out cyber Halloween treats*This one begins during the time that Arla was in Arithmancy last chapter and shows us what Tracey and Daphne have gotten up to… oh boy. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters used in this fanfiction except for my OC Arla Paxton. Or Cardcaptor Sakura. **

Chapter 14: Death and Divination

Meanwhile, as Arla entered her Arithmancy classroom, the rest of the Slytherins sans Blaise entered the Divination classroom in the North Tower. They entered the classroom though a circular door, which was unusual enough as it was, but what awaited them on the inside was even more different than what they had learned to expect when going to classes at Hogwarts. The classroom had poufs rather than chairs, several small circular tables, and the drapes were drawn within the room. Crystal balls, candle stubs, and teacups aligned the shelves on the walls of the room. It had a sort of mystical, out of this world sort of aura about it, and was certainly unlike most of their classrooms that had desks neatly arranged into columns and rows.

Daphne and Tracey sat together and started chatting about the room.

"This place is so cool, "Daphne opinionated about her current surroundings.

"I think my creativity will flow quite nicely in this classroom, "Tracey hypothesized. The girls as well as almost all of the other occupants in the room continued to talk after this until a woman entered the room. She adorned large round glasses that gave her an owlish sort of look. Her brown hair was relatively curly and frizzy. She was rather thin and possessed dark green eyes, enlarged due to her spectacles. Her attire consisted of a spangled shawl and jewelry.

"Good day, my dears, "she greeted in a misty, fairy like voice. "You have decided to venture into the art of Divination. I must tell you books alone will not get you very far in this subject, and only those who possess the Inner Eye can truly hope to be prosperous in this field." For the next ten minutes or so, she went on to talk about what the class would entail before she split them into groups of two to practice tea leaf reading. Tracey was paired with Theodore Nott while Daphne was paired with Draco. Theodore Nott was a tall lanky boy with wavy chestnut brown curls who Tracey, despite being in all of his classes for the past two years, still did not know very well.

"Daphne, "Draco began before they started.

""Since when do you call me Daphne?" Daphne interrupted.

"Since now, "Draco brushed this off. "Anyway, how old is your sister?"

"She just started Hogwarts so she's eleven years old… and is far too young to get married, if that's what you're thinking."Daphne informed him, looking at him suspiciously.

"Oh for the love of- I was not planning on marrying an eleven year old girl, Daphne!"Draco protested but then composed himself."Did I ever tell you you have such lovely green eyes, Daphne?"

"No, but other people have on countless occasions," Daphne added."Astoria's gotten compliments on her eyes even more than I have though. I mean, she has one green eye and one blue; that's extraordinary."

"Yes, "Draco mused.

"Look Malfoy, let's just cut to the chase, "Daphne spoke suddenly. "I understand why you fancy me, but I'm not ready to be dating anybody yet. Besides, I don't approve of the way you go around bullying people, so even if I was ready for that sort of commitment, I would still not go out with you unless you changed your ways, then I may or may not reconsider. I'm sure you actually are a nice enough boy deep down Draco, but I am not interested in dating a bully. Please do not feel bad about this; I am sure a handsome boy like you can find a girl, and I only hope you treat her well."

Draco spluttered at Daphne, unable to form a coherent sentence.

"Oh God I'm sorry Draco, did I hurt your feelings?"Daphne worried.

"NO! Greengrass, I was not flirting with you just now! I was not trying to ask you out; I was trying to- never mind!"Draco scowled and looked down at his tea leaves.

Meanwhile at a table nearby sat Theodore and Tracey. "So, um, how does this work again… exactly?" Tracey mumbled to Theodore. She and Theodore rarely interacted, and she had always been particularly shy around him ever since the day in her first year when she had accidentally set his robes on fire. He was not a mean boy, she knew, and could not remember him ever participating in any form of bullying, but she could not help at the moment feel slightly nervous around him.

"We try analyzing what we see in our cups by comparing them to images in our textbooks on pages 5-10 and looking up the meaning of the symbols."Theodore replied.

"Oh. Right. Erm, thanks."Tracey mumbled again, looking into his cup. It was very difficult to match the cup's contents to any of the symbols in the textbook.

"What does the sun symbolize?"He asked, looking up from her cup.

"The sun in general? Well, that usually symbolizes hope or happiness or brightness or-"

"Concerning Tessomancy."Theodore clarified.

_Concerning what?_ " Sorry?"

"Tessomancy."Theodore repeated. "You know, tea leaf reading."

"Oh. Right."Tracey blushed and looked down at her book. "It means pretty much what I said a minute ago: It means happiness."

"Well then, "Theodore smiled."It looks like you've got happiness in store for you. I saw it in your cup. There was an acorn there to, which seems to suggest that you're going to be quite wealthy some day."

"Thanks."_Wait a moment, why I am I thanking him? It's not like he just created happiness for me if it was already there to begin with or is offering me money. God, I must seem like such an idiot to him right now…_

"What does mine say?"Theodore broke her train of thought.

Tracey looked down."Okay, I see what appears to be a skull… and right next to that is a cross…

then what looks like a falcon having an aneurism-"

"A what?"Theodore busted out laughing so hard everyone in the vicinity stared at him. It was very rare to witness Theodore talk or make any sort of indication of him being alive, let alone the sort of raucous laughter.

"A falcon, that to me at least looks kind of like its having an aneurism, "Tracey repeated, taken aback by his sudden laughter, unsure whether or not she should join in. It did not seem like he was laughing at her or trying to be mocking; he simply found what she said to be amusing. Still, while the tension Tracey was feeling still hung in the air, it had now lessoned somewhat. "Let's see, there's also this club and this thing that looks like a dog… what do all those mean?"

Theodore rifled through the pages of his textbook." Well, the cross symbolizes hardship and suffering, the falcon represents a deadly enemy- although I don't know what it means if said falcon is having an aneurism-, a club stands for an attack, a skull means danger, and you just saw the Grim, which I assume you already know the meaning of judging by the comically terrified expression on your face. Now, I'm no expert at tea leaf reading but I believe you essentially just prophesized that an enemy of some sort is going to cause me a lot of strife, endanger me, attack me, and then probably kill me. "

"Oh my God!"Tracey buried her face in her hands, clearly mortified and horrified at the same time. "I am so sorry!"

"It's all right!"Theodore assured her, laughing."You're not a real Seer, it's not like this is going to come true or anything! Relax, this is all just practice."

Tracey was about to respond when Professor Trelawney announced to the class, "Miss Daphne Greengrass has just read in her tea leaves that Draco Malfoy is going to die at the hands of a Hippogriff! Oh, woe is the future! That is the second time this morning I have foreseen a student's death. How my heart aches at the thought of young life ending so soon!"

"I'm going to die?!" Draco rounded on Daphne. "Greengrass, this is your entire fault! If you hadn't read those tea leaves, none of this would have happened!"

"Oh my dear, do not treat Miss Greengrass so harshly."Professor Trelawney told him."Even if she had not read those leaves you are going to die either way."

"Oh, thanks, that's a very comforting thought!"Draco sniped sarcastically.

"If it makes you feel better mate, "Theodore piped up."Tracey here just read my tea leaves and not only am I going to die, I will also be endangered, attacked, given loads of trouble and hardship, and have an unknown enemy become involved in all this."  
>"Actually the falcon doesn't mean unknown enemy, it just means an enemy, "Tracey corrected him.<p>

"I say unknown being as I'm not aware of currently having any enemies, "Theodore explained.

"The third student today who is going to die in the foreseeable future!"Professor Trelawney wailed dramatically."Oh, this is not going to be a good year!"

_Really? I never would have guessed that. _Daphne thought to herself, rolling her eyes and flipping long and golden blonde tresses over her shoulder before another thought occurred to her. "Professor, you said this was the third time today someone's been prophesized to die. Who was the first person?"

"Harry Potter, "Professor Trelawney hiccupped, eyes watering. "If you'll excuse me children, this has been too much of a shock for one day, so for the remainder of the period I would like to spend some time… alone."And with that being said she burst into tears, ran into her office and slammed the door behind her.

"Should we go after her?"Tracey wonderer concernedly.

"I think she just needs some time to herself, "Theodore assured her. "Don't worry about it: I highly doubt anyone is actually going to die."

"Well we're all going to die someday," Daphne reminded him.

"I meant anyone whose tea leaves read they were going to die in the near future," Theodore informed her.

"Oh, you're probably right."Daphne agreed. "In the meantime, there are a full fifteen minutes left of class so we can get a head start on our Transfiguration homework." Daphne pulled out the homework that McGonagall has assigned them already on the first day and proceeded to work on that. Meanwhile Tracey pulled out her notebook. Tracey had gotten a new notebook for her birthday where she drew illustrations and wrote stories for fun. It was a purple marble notebook and she had created flower illustrations across the front. Her name was scrawled across the section where her name was supposed to be listed in rainbow colored print.

Theodore, who had been about to start his Transfiguration homework, noticed the notebook. "Tracey, what is that?" He queried, blue eyes curious.

_He has very nice eyes, _she found herself thinking before answering somewhat shyly," It's my notebook. I-I like to draw and write- I-I got this notebook for my birthday last summer and I draw pictures in here and write stories for fun."

"Really?"Theodore's eyes lit up."That's so cool. I always think people who are artists- whether it's through drawing or writing or some other form of art- are really interesting. "

Tracey blushed again yet feeling more confident this time, added, "Thank you, I've loved drawing and writing since I was a little kid, and every birthday and Christmas my parents buy me a new one: Usually I'll have just about filled up my most recent notebook around those times of the year, so it's good timing. And whenever I finish writing and drawing in one, I show it to my friends-Arla and Daphne- and they write comments on the back cover. Also, I set up my notebook using magic so that only I can access it. I'm not going to tell you how though, only that it has something to do with the front cover…"

"Aren't you the mysterious one?"Theodore commented wryly.

Tracey giggled."You're funny, you know that Theodore?" She blushed yet again as soon as the words were out of her mouth. (Needless to say, Tracey had a habit of blushing often.)

"Please, call me Theo." Theo requested. "If it's all right with you, would you mind showing me some of your work?"

"Okay, but you can't look as I open the book, okay?" Tracey watched Theo cover his eyes before getting the book open using her secret technique, and flipped open to her most recent work. "Open your eyes."

Theo did and found himself looking at a very realistic painting of a young girl with alabaster white skin while still possessing rosy cheeks and long raven hair that fell in delicate waves. She also had one sapphire blue eye and one emerald green. This person could only be Astoria Greengrass: Very few people had such distinct eye colors."You drew a picture of Daphne's sister?"

Tracey nodded. "I painted it, actually, on the train ride yesterday."

"This is beautiful Tracey, "He gaped at it."Amazing, it looks just like how I imagine a photograph would in Technicolor and if they stood still."

"Muggle photographs are like that you know."Tracey informed him.

"Really? Weird." His tone did not suggest that he patronized the idea of Muggle technology though or even Muggles in general much to Tracey's relief. He actually seemed fascinated by the concept.

"What's on this page?"He asked, turning back a page which revealed an anime drawing of a little girl with short light chestnut brown hair that fell in layers and had bright olive green eyes who was from a manga series Tracey had recently started reading called Cardcaptor Sakura.

"This is a girl from a comic I like to read, "Tracey informed him."It's fan art, you see. I drew her based off of how she looks in the series."

"Neat, "He replied. He looked at the page opposite it, which contained writing on it rather than paintings or anime drawings this time. "Can I read this?"

"Sure,"Tracey nodded. "It's an excerpt from a story I'm writing at the moment."

"What's it about?"Theo inquired, genuinely interested.

"Well, it's a murder mystery that took place at this really poor orphanage in the 19th century. The main character in my story is a girl whose father- a wealthy business man- owns the orphanage but doesn't take very good care of it, hence its current position. The girl meets one of the boys at the orphanage one day when she sneaks out of her house that's on the outskirts of town- she's not allowed to go outside during the day, due to the fact that her mother died when she was young and her father has become extremely overprotective of her ever since, and doesn't allow her to go outside very often, let alone by herself- and falls in love with him later on, but her father wants her to marry this man whose a colleague of his to "secure her future." Meanwhile, there's this whole murder subplot that occurred at the orphanage and the girl and the boy are trying to solve the mystery." Tracey summarized.

"Sounds fascinating!"Theo grinned. "I think I'll read it."

_He has a nice smile; he should do that more often. _"If you start on page 6, that's where it begins. Every so often a drawing or two will interrupt the story, but after that the writing picks up again. Right now, excluding drawings and other pieces of writing, I have roughly thirty pages written. "

"All right then."Theo turned to page six and commenced reading.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

After the bell for lunch rang, Theo handed Tracey back her notebook. "Would you mind if I wrote something on the back cover once you've finished using the book?"

"Sure, "Tracey then realized she had technically just said 'yes I do mind' even though she meant the opposite."I mean, not at all. That is to say, I-I'd be very…happy if you reviewed it."

"Great! From what I've seen so far, you've got talent Tracey! By the way, this is a little off topic, but how do you manage to have such neat handwriting? Mine is always nearly impossible for people to read."

"Oh, I don't know, "Tracey shrugged.

"And how are you so good at spelling and grammar? I'm terrible when it comes to that. Got any tips?"

"Oh, it's easy once you've memorized the rules, "An idea struck Tracey."Maybe I could teach you sometime."

"That'd be great!"Theo agreed as they walked down the staircase along with the rest of their classmates. "What electives are you taking this year?"

"I'm taking Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and Ancient Runes. What about you?"Tracey questioned curiously.

"That's exactly the same schedule I have!"Theo exclaimed in delight.

"Really; that's so cool! We're in all of the same classes together this year!"Tracey cheered, earning her some glances in her direction but she didn't care.

"Actually, since for the core subjects at Hogwarts everyone who is in the same year and house have the same classes together, so we've always had all of the same classes together. Don't you remember you set my robes on fire during Potions that one time back in first year?" Theo chuckled.

"Yeah, sorry about that again."Tracey flushed, laughing nervously.

"It's okay, I know it was an accident; no hard feelings."Theo laughed it off. "Even though I was scared at the time, it was actually quite funny once I knew there was no possibility of me being burned alive." He smiled and Tracey found herself smiling back in earnest.

The two continued to talk for a bit before reaching the Great Hall.

"Do you want to sit with my friends and me at lunch?"Tracey suggested.

"Okay," Theo complied willingly.

They sat down next to Arla, who was already at the table along with Blaise Zabini. Daphne noticed Astoria entering the hall and motioned for her to join them. "Hey, Astoria!"

Astoria, who was chatting with another first year girl, waved to Daphne and smiled but sat at a different end of the table with the girl.

"You should give her time to make new friends first," Arla advised.

"I know, "Daphne sighed.

"This is your entire fault, Greengrass, "Malfoy griped from nearby."If you hadn't attempted to sneak her into Hogwarts without telling her she'd be sitting with us now!"

"Oh keep your Slytherin green shorts on Draco! You're just pissed because I predicted your death today in Divination." Daphne rolled her eyes.

"Wait, what?"Arla was not sure which she was more surprised about; the expression Daphne just used or the fact she prophesized Draco's death. Daphne explained the situation that had happened that morning. "And I don't see why he's so hacked off at me right now; it's not like I did it intentionally or that it's actually going to happen. Besides, Tracey predicted Theo's death along with several other unpleasant things and he's handling it well, aren't you Theo?"

"Yes, "Theo, who had been quiet during this entire conversation, acknowledged.

"Also, I would like to point out that if _someone_," here she glared at Pansy."Hadn't let slip that I snuck her along with me last year, she would still be sitting with us because even though I did that she would not have known that I did that."

"I'm amazed that she even acknowledged you earlier," Draco drawled. "If I were in her position, I'd pretend that I didn't even know you. Why would you even do something like that?"

"Because I thought she'd be happier here," Daphne exploded. "God, is it so bizarre to smuggle your sister into school under the influence of a Sleeping Potion and keep her in the dark about it?"

"YES!"Everyone within the vicinity chorused.

"Oh… all right then."Daphne mumbled.

"Look Daph, it's great you want to help and spend time with your sister and you care about her happiness, but you need to let her be independent sometimes."Arla reasoned.

"Yeah," Daphne admitted. "I'll make sure she sits with us during dinner though; I'm dying to know how her day's been."

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

After Herbology, the Slytherins had Care of Magical Creatures. On their way to the area where the class was scheduled, Arla ran into Sally-Anne Perks, who along with several other Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had just had the Care of Magical Creature lesson before the Slytherins and Gryffindors.  
>"Guess what we looked at in class today?"She said in excitement."Hippogriffs!"<p>

Upon finding out they were going to be working with Hippogriffs, Draco let out a loud groan. "Greengrass, if your prediction turns out to be correct, I swear to God, I will sue."

Daphne ignored him before an idea struck her. "Say Malfoy, let's make a bet."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind, Greengrass?"

"If you die today at the hands of a Hippogriff, you owe me 5 Knuts." Daphne proposed. "If you live, I owe you 5 Knuts."

"Are we actually having a bet my life depends on Greengrass?"Draco clarified.

Daphne nodded."What do you say to that?"

"I say you're on, "Draco challenged, being as even if he died he would not be able to pay her.

"Oh and Malfoy, when I say you owe me 5 Knuts if you die, I mean that your family will be the ones to pay me." Daphne knew she would not win the bet, hence the small amount of money she was bidding.

"Hey Malfoy, cheer up," Blaise joked."You said Trelawney also predicted Potter's going to die, right? Maybe that'll be today."

Malfoy let out a low chuckle. "If only."

They approached Hagrid's hut, the owner of which was waiting. Daphne, Tracey, and Arla did not know Hagrid very well;, they had seen him around school before and he seemed nice enough, but that was all they knew about him really. Once everyone was there, Hagrid instructed them to follow him and lead them to an empty paddock.

"Everyone gather round the fence here!"Hagrid called. "That's it. Make sure yeh can see- now firs' thing yeh'll want to do is open yer books-"

"How?"Draco drawled coldly.

"Eh?"Hagrid seemed taken aback by this sudden question.

"How do we open our books?"Draco repeated.

The class took out their books, many of which were bound together with tape to keep from biting them.

"Hasn'-Hasn' anybody been able to open their books?"Hagrid asked crestfallenly.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Yeh've got ter stroke them," Hagrid informed them , as if pointing out the obvious." He then proceeded to show them how to open their books, by taking Hermione Granger's, ripping the Spellotape off of it, and stroking it.

"Oh, how silly we've all been!"Draco sneered sarcastically. "We should have stroked them! Why didn't we guess!"

"I-I thought they were funny," Hagrid mumbled uncertainly.

"Oh, tremendously funny!"Draco's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"

"Shut up Malfoy," Harry Potter spoke.

"Righ' then," Hagrid intervened, trying to get the class back on track." So-so ye've got yer books and now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get em'. Hang on…" Hagrid disappeared into the forest.

"God, this place is going to the dogs, "Draco opinionated loudly. "That oaf teaching classes, my father will have a fit when I tell him-"

"Shut up Malfoy," Harry spoke again, and a certain trio of Slytherin girls silently agreed. Hagrid was not making a good impression so far, but that was no reason for Draco to try and make him appear to be even worse.

"Careful, Potter, there's a Dementor behind you-"

Draco was cut off by Tracey and Lavender Brown saying simultaneously," Oooooh!"

A dozen Hippogriffs were now within the paddock, and they were quite an impressive sight to behold. Hagrid explained to them about Hippogriffs and how to treat one as the entire class held onto his every word; everybody that is, except a certain trio of Slytherin boys, who were foolishly not listening. Hagrid then asked for volunteers, and Harry offered to fly one. As Harry mounted one, he held the class's attention and continued to do so as he actually flew the great beast.

"Good work Harry!"Hagrid roared once Harry returned to the ground as everyone exempting Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle cheered. "Okay, who else wants a go?"

The class entered the paddock and the girls stepped in front of a Hippogriff, which did not bow to them regardless of how hard they tried.

"I'll give you a Galleon if you bow for me," Arla attempted but the bird did not move a muscle.

Suddenly a scream resounded and Malfoy laid curdled in the grass, a long bleeding gash on his arm his sleeves. "I'm dying!"He yelled. "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"

"My God, I just may win this bet after all."Daphne breathed, but not happily. Annoying though Malfoy undoubtedly was, losing him probably wouldn't be too great either. Hagrid escorted Malfoy to the Hospital Wing while they very shaken Care of Magical Creatures class went inside. Pansy, who was actually crying out of concern for Draco, ran up the marble staircase to see if he was okay. As the Slytherins retreated to their common room, a thought occurred to Daphne. "I'm going to check up on him too; I hope he isn't dead, even if it does mean I'll get money."

"Daphne, I'm sure he's fine," Arla attempted to reason.

"Daphne, what are you talking about?" Astoria had been walking nearby unbeknownst to them and overheard them.

"ASTORIA!" Daphne squealed, enveloping her in a hug that actually resulted in the younger Greengrass gasping for breath. "How's my favorite little sister? How was your day?"

"First off, I'm your only little sister, and second of all, what do you mean by someone may be about to die and you'll win money if they do?"Astoria demanded firmly.

"I'll explain to you on the way," Daphne told her, grabbing her by the hand and running up the stairs, away from Tracey and Arla. Daphne recapped the situation to Astoria, who actually burst out laughing, much to Daphne's shock.

"Why are you laughing at a time like this?" Daphne gaped at her.

"Sorry, it's just that I can't believe he actually insulted a Hippogriff! I mean, who is actually arrogant enough to even think of doing such a thing? And I'm going to tell you now Daphne, he isn't going to die; you said he had a minor gash across his arm? I'm sure the school nurse will be able to fix that up in a matter of minutes. I'm sure that the worst that could happen is that his arm will be broken, which certainly isn't very pleasant, but I can assure you that there is no way he's actually going to die." They had reached the door to the Hospital Wing now, and Daphne found herself laughing too.

"Well, maybe we should just go in anyway."Daphne was looking for any excuse to stay with Astoria.

"Okay," Astoria consented once they composed themselves. They then entered the room. Malfoy was on a bed while Madame Pomfrey stood over him, and Pansy Parkinson was seated in a chair next to the bed, and was weeping ludicrously dramatically.

"Hello," Astoria greeted casually, walking along to where Draco was, pulling up two nearby chairs and placing them by the bed. "Daphne told me what happened and we wanted to make sure you're okay. Hello Pansy." She added to Pansy, who sniffed in reply.

"So, Draco, erm… you're not going to die or anything, right?"Daphne confirmed as Pansy cried harder than ever at that.  
>"I don't know girls, "Draco moaned as Madame Pomfrey inspected the wound. "Madame Pomfrey is doing everything she can but it may not be enough-"<p>

"Oh Mr. Malfoy, for heavens' sakes, you are not going to die," Madame Pomfrey interrupted. "At the very worst your arm may be in a sling for a couple of weeks, however being as I can Heal bones in a heartbeat, even that seems to be unlikely. Would you kindly stop putting on airs; you are worrying Miss Parkinson, Miss Greengrass, and-"

She looked at Astoria, recognition clear on her face but instead she said, "I'm sorry dear, I do not know your name."

"Astoria Greengrass," Astoria reminded her."My sister attempted to smuggle me into Hogwarts last year, do you remember? Because I certainly don't."

_Was it my imagination, or did she actually just glare at me for half a microsecond? _Daphne wondered.

"Oh, you found out about that I take it."Madame Pomfrey smiled grimly."Yes, you are quite right. One does not forget a thing like that, especially when that's the first time thety have ever heard of it happening within their lifetime."

An awkward silence fell as Madame Pomfrey continued attending to Draco.

Daphne was the first to break the silence. "So, Malfoy, it er, looks like I owe you 5 Knuts now."

"Yes, you do." Daphne dug into her bag and handed him the money.

"Well, "Astoria smiled cheerily."That's one good thing that's come out of today."

There was some more silence- well, silence apart from the sound of Pansy sobbing- before Astoria solicited to Draco in genuine concern, "Does it hurt terribly Draco? You're arm, I mean."

"Oh the pain, the terrible pain," And needless to say Draco carried on like that for the rest of the time remaining. Pansy kept, between fits of weeping, insulting Hagrid rudely and vehemently. Daphne wanted to yell at the two to shut up, but it appeared as though Astoria did not. Astoria listened with endless patience, never showing signs of anger or annoyance once, and even went as far as offering Pansy a tissue or words of comfort once in a while, not that she listened. At dinner time however, the two sisters decided to leave.

"In that case then, how about I bring you two some dinner?" Astoria offered.

"That would be a very good thing for you to do, Greengrass Junior," Draco let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "Lord knows I need all the strength I can get. I only hope I'll be alive when you return."

Pansy let out a loud wail at this.

"Pansy, I'm sure he'll still be alive by the time I come back-"Astoria began but Pansy would not listen to reason, instead practically bawling her eyes out.

"Oh Miss Parkinson, get a grip on yourself." Madame Pomfrey was thoroughly irritated at the girl's constant whining; she had kept insulting Hagrid for over an hour and was overreacting in the extreme to Draco's minor injury. Then turning to Astoria, she added," That's a kind offer Miss Greengrass, but you and your sister may go. So can you Miss Parkinson. There is food in the here that Malfoy may eat."

"NO!"Pansy shrieked. "I'm not leaving Draco even for a moment!"

"Fine," Snapped Madame Pomfrey. "In that case, you will receive food here as well."

Daphne and Astoria then exited the room, and after Daphne closed the door, she let out a loud whoop.

"Sexy Salazar Slytherin, thank God we made it out alive! I thought I was going to die of boredom! How were you so damn calm and patient when handling those two, Astoria? You were more patient than the _nurse_! I was ready to tear out their hair!"

"Years of practice," Astoria muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Daphne could not make out what exactly Astoria had just said.

"Oh, nothing." Astoria gave a rather forced smile. "I was rather annoyed at them too. My God, it's understandable to be upset, but not _that_ upset! If someone were to have walked into that room not knowing what had happened, I'm sure they would have thought he actually _was_ dying!" The two went into a giggling fit after that.

They now reached the entrance hall. "You're sitting with me for dinner tonight, since you did not at lunch." Daphne ordered her sister.

"No." Astoria responded as though Daphne had just asked her a question about the weather.

"_No?" _Daphne echoed, shocked. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Well Daphne, no is this little word that means to not do something." Astoria stated sarcastically.

"I know what the word means," Daphne was put off by this."Why won't you sit with me is what I'm asking."

Astoria took a deep breath and then sighed. "Daphne, I only found out this morning that you smuggled me into school over a year ago when I was unconscious the entire time without even telling me after the whole ordeal was over; that's not exactly a normal turn of events."

"So I've heard,"Daphne grumbled.

"I just … I really think maybe we should spend some time apart for a little bit, all right? It's been a very eventful day for me, to say the least, and I really just need some time to let everything sink in."

"I see."Daphne comprehended now. "That's fine. You go make friends while I eat with mine."

Astoria smiled. "Thank you, Daphne, that sounds like a fine idea."

Daphne grinned."I do have some rather brilliant ones occasionally."

**A/N: The way I imagine Astoria in my head is a little hard to put onto paper, so I'll just explain a couple of things: The first is that in my head she actually is a fairly complex character, and therefore a fairly difficult one to write. She is a very good person; however she does have a snarky/sarcastic side to her as well. She is an especially good person, but she's not perfect either. Btw, she's not just pretending to be nice: She honestly is very kind, but she, like everyone, does get annoyed with people from time to time, she just tries not to show it, and when she does she expresses herself in small ways you might miss if you're not watching carefully. She does have a tendency to bottle things up a bit sometimes however, which probably isn't a good thing…**

**Author's Questions: What do you think of Theo? What do you think of the way he and Tracey were interacting? In this AstoriaxDracoxPansy Love Triangle that may start to emerge, who are you rooting for? What do you think of Daphne?**

**Most importantly though, have a Happy Halloween, and please review! Reviews give me motivation for writing, and I want to see if I can post again before November! :D **


	15. Boggart!

**A/N: Happy Halloween!*Hands out cyber Halloween goodies* This chap. takes places the day after the last one…**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters used in this fanfiction except for my OC Arla Paxton and my other OC Penelope Fawcett.**

Chapter 15:Boggart

The next morning Daphne made sure to wake up early and be very quick that morning so that she was one of the first Slytherins ready for breakfast. She did not go down to the Great Hall though; instead she waited in the Common Room for a certain first year that happened to be related to her. When said first year trotted up the stairs from her dormitory, Daphne raced over and beamed, "Astoria, how are you darling sister of mine? We hardly saw each other at all yesterday? Why don't we sit together today at breakfast?"

"Actually Daphne, I was hoping that this morning I could sit with my friends for breakfast," Astoria stated diplomatically.

Daphne's eyes now bore a strong resemblance to a sea of emeralds as her eyes swam with tears."You have friends already? Oh my God, I am so proud of you!" And with that being said Daphne immediately picked up Astoria with surprising strength and twirled her around the room.

"Daphne-put-me-down!" Astoria gasped, limbs flailing.

"Astoria, are you all right?" A girl with matching brown hair and eyes from Astoria's year had come up the stairs and was watching the scene, silently wondering how two people could be so closely related yet so different in personality.

"Oh, she's fine!"Daphne assured her, putting Astoria's feet back on the ground. "And I have a marvelous idea, Astoria! Why don't I sit with you and your friends?"

"Oh, um, actually-"Astoria began but then Daphne gave her what Astoria referred to in her mind as The Look. The look that if she said no to she'd feel as if she were about to send a puppy to a pound.(A more creative name she had mentally dubbed for this look was the "Puppy Dog Pound" look.)

"Oh, all right."Astoria gave in while Daphne whooped, causing several stares in her direction.

"You just wait here Astoria; I have to go inform the girls in my dorm about my decision so they know where I shall be dining today!" As Daphne skipped down the steps to go to her dormitory, the brown eyed brunette in Astoria's year whispered," When she says today, she only means breakfast, right?"

Astoria decided not to answer that.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

Daphne plopped into the seat next to Astoria in the Great Hall as several other first years hesitantly took seats nearby.

"Hello, for those of you who do not know me, I am Daphne Greengrass, older sister of Astoria Greengrass, this adorable young lady here, "She introduced herself." Now, some of you may be nervous that as an upperclassman I will bully you. I assure you, I will not, although I would advise you to listen to me in all circumstances. If you are worried about bullies in general, you will be happy to know that Slytherin first years being bullied by older students usually is very rare. If anyone, regardless of who it is, does have the nerve to pick on you, you tell me right away and I assure that I will happily kick their arse for you… actually, now that I think about it, maybe resulting to violence is not the best idea, but I will always defend you. Any friend of Astoria is a friend of mine! However, if any of you ever mistreat my sister in any sense of the word, I will send you to Hell and back understand?" She spoke this last part with such a serious and menacing glint in her eyes that the first years all nodded in fear. "Excellent. Oh also boys, undeniably attractive though my sister undoubtedly is, you are not to lay a hand on her or the statement I said earlier will apply to you. Are we clear?" The boys all nodded as Daphne gave them beady eyed stares.

"Good. Well, you all seem like a nice group of kids. Does anyone have any questions about Hogwarts I can help you with?"

The girl who had inquired about Astoria's well being upon witnessing Daphne twirl her raised her hand.

"And your name is?"

"Penelope Fawcett." The girl replied. "But everyone calls me Penny. My older sister Sarah is in Ravenclaw."

"Oh I see why they call you Penny: Your eyes and hair are a very fine shade of brown." Daphne complimented, taking in the copper colored hair and eyes. "Anyway, what was your question?"

"The moving staircases are so confusing! How do you keep track of where you're going all the time?"Penny asked.

Daphne reached into her bag and pulled out a map. "This is a map I made during my first year for precisely that reason. I made nine copies of it so you can each have one. It lists all of the tricks on the staircases and gives a schedule of when they tend to move and to where, as well as shortcuts to classes."She handed them out graciously as all the first years at the table accepted them. They were now under the impression that the blonde sitting before them was eccentric perhaps, but very good natured, and absolutely brilliant.

Right at that moment Professor Snape passed by their table, and an idea struck Daphne. "Hey kids, see that really hot man right there?"

The first years sans Astoria all stared at Daphne in confusion.

"Um, who are you talking about?"Penny queried.

"Professor Snape, the guy with the lank black hair and hooked nose standing twelve feet away, who might I mention is A VERY HANDSOME MAN!" Daphne said this last part especially loudly so that her professor might hear.

"Oh," the first years chorused somewhat awkwardly.

"Well kids, it would be of your best interest to listen to everything and do anything that man tells you, for you see children, Professor Snape is the Voice of God." Daphne stated in a wise, all knowing sort of voice as Astoria accidentally did a spit take on her milk, unable to believe what her sister had just said.

"Ooh, Astoria, you don't need me to administrate the Heimlich remover, do you?"Daphne fretted.

Astoria took a deep breath. "I think I'll be fine, thanks Daphne."

"Whoa, are you serious?"Penny whispered, looking over at Snape in wonder.

"Of course she isn-" Astoria began but Daphne interrupted her.

"Indeed I am child, indeed I am." Daphne told the first years, who were all exempting Astoria staring at her as if they had never seen anyone so awe inspiring. _Well, I suppose Daphne is awe inspiring in her own way, _Astoria thought, unable to believe how her classmates were reacting to Daphne but deciding that there was no harm in their reactions so she would not say anything.

Daphne sat with Astoria and her classmates until they had to go to their classes.

"So, what class do you lot have now?"She solicited as she stood up.

"Potions."The Slytherin first years all chorused.

Daphen sighed. "Lucky. I have boring old History of Magic. But then I have Defense Against the Dark Arts, and then my very first ever Muggle Studies class!"She squealed this last part and gave Astoria a farewell hug before departing to class. A boy with a mass of mousy brown curls that somewhat resembled an afro whispered to Astoria as Daphne left," Hey Astoria, you're sister's hot! Do you think you could set me up with her sometime?"

Astoria stared at the ceiling.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

After History of Magic, the Slytherins arrived to Defense Against the Dark Arts. This would be their first class with Professor Lupin. Once class started, they were shocked to find out they would be facing a Boggart. As they got into line, some of them wondered what form their Boggart would take while others knew exactly what it would be and were trying to think of how they could transform their fear into something amusing.

Pansy went first.(Most of the girls were at the front being as they were braver, less stubborn and less embarrassed about revealing their worst fear in front of their classmates than most of the boys were.) Pansy's Boggart took the form of a rather freckly pug faced girl whose mousy brown hair was curly and frizzy to the extreme and was what one might call bushy even. Her front teeth were larger than even Hermione Granger's. A large amount of shadows surrounded her as she lay sobbing on the floor, the shadows chanting the word ugly over and over again.

"R-_ Riddikulus!" _Pansy yelled, raising he wand. The shadows as well as the girl disappeared and a unicorn made out of candy stood in their wake.  
>"Oh my God, a candy unicorn!"Tracey shrieked amidst the laughter.<p>

Next was Arla's turn. The Boggart transformed into Arla holding an exam score paper with the letter T written in every subject as Hermione Granger stood next to her holding an exam paper with the letter O written for every subject beaming proudly, and jeered at Arla," Squib! Squib! Squib!"

"_Riddikulus!" _Arla declared and Boggart Hermione proceeded to give an astounding imitation of a squirrel. The Slytherins in particular howled with laughter at this.

Next went Daphne. Her Boggart was very different from the people who had gone before her though. Her Boggart took the shape of a corpse who bore a strong resemblance to-  
>"Astoria!"Daphne screamed, forgetting that it was only a Boggart and her sister was still very much alive. "NO!"She rushed over to Astoria's side, tears streaming down her face.<p>

"Daphne calm down, it's only a Boggart! Astoria's still alive!"Arla reasoned, shaking her.

Professor Lupin stepped in front of the Boggart, which turned into a floating white orb, murmured,"_ Riddikulus." _The orb changed into a balloon, and floated back into the wardrobe.

"Miss Greengrass" Professor Lupin said gently."Perhaps you ought to go to Madame Pomfrey for a Calming Drought."

"We'll take her," Tracey and Arla offered at once.

Professor Lupin nodded. "Very well I'll write you three passes." He wrote them passes and they left for the nurse, Tracey and Arla consoling the still hysterical Daphne along the way.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

"Astoria, you need to come to the Hospital Wing."Arla told Astoria as she entered the Great Hall for lunch . Astoria was sitting with some girls in her year at the Slytherin Table.

She stood up."Why, what's wrong? Did something happen to Daphne?"

"Yeah, I'll explain along the way," Arla had to jog to keep up with Astoria, who had just run out into the entrance hall as soon as Arla had confirmed her suspicions.

"Oh my God, is she okay? Did she injure herself?"

Arla filled Astoria in on the D.A.D.A. lesson. "She's fine now, but she kept saying earlier she wanted to see you so she'd know you're okay, and she also said," Arla took a deep breath here. "She said she'd never forgive herself if you never forgave her for sneaking you into Hogwarts without telling you that one time."

"Oh God, of course I forgive her, she's my sister! It's just been a little awkward between us since I found that out, but of course I forgive her!"An immense wave of guilt washed over Astoria. They had now reached the Hospital Wing. Astoria pulled the door open, sweeping in over to where Daphne lied on a bed with Tracey sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"I'm sorry."Both sisters spoke at the same time, and Daphne burst into tears yet again that day. The next several minutes were spent with much "I forgive you!" and "It's okay!"

Once Daphne calmed down enough to leave the Hospital and the girls made their way down to lunch, Astoria remarked," You know, this is the second time I've been to the Hospital Wing this year and it's only the second day. I hope this isn't a bad omen."

Daphne chuckled at this and then said," So we're good now, right?"

Astoria smiled. "Absolutely."

**A/N: What do you think Pansy's Boggart was exactly? What do you think everyone else's Boggarts would have been? What's your Boggart? What did you think of Daphne this chapter? What about Astoria? What did you think about her classmates?**

**Happy Halloween and **_**please **_**review! Cyber Halloween treats to any and all reviewers! Also, next chapter: Daphne and Arla have their first Muggle Studies class. :D **


	16. Muggle Studies and Ancient Runes

**A/N:Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed, added to favorites or story alerts!*Hands out early holiday celebration* **

**Disclaimer: I do not own ****Harry Potter****. I only own Arla Paxton, my OC.**

Chapter 16:Muggle Studies and Ancient Runes

Daphne and Arla reached the door of the classroom, trembling in anticipation. This was going to be their first ever Muggle Studies class. They were the first ones there; even the teacher hadn't arrived yet. "So, I guess we just wait here for the professor to show up?"Arla breathed to Daphne, barley able to wait for the teacher to do so.

"Yeah, I suppose." Daphne checked her watch, eagerly anticipating their professor's arrival; the sooner she arrived, the sooner they could learn more about the Muggle world. "Do you know who else is going to be taking Muggle Studies?"

"I am,"Hermione Granger spoke from behind her, causing Daphne to scream. Loudly, of course, being as if there was one thing one could never accuse Daphne of _not_ being, it was a drama queen. Both Arla and Hermione covered their ears at this.

"Jaysus Daph,"Arla had of course in reality said Jesus, but due to her experiencing strong emotions at the moment, her accent had become much more pronounced."Do you have to scream so bloody loud?" Turning to Hermione, she demanded."What do you mean you're taking Muggle Studies? You're a Muggle-born; you already know everything you need to about the Muggle world!" Arla had been looking forward to having a class without her arch rival, in her mind, stealing all the glory from her for once, and was sorely frustrated and disappointed at this new development.

"I have as much right as you do to take what classes I like, "Hermione responded coolly, and Arla was surprised by her tone." Yes, I was raised by Muggles, but that doesn't mean I know every single little thing about the Muggle world, and besides, I'm sure it would be very interesting to learn about it from the Wizarding World's perspective."

"I never said you didn't," Arla forced her voice to be polite and civil, and was surprised to find she was not mad at Hermione; she was mad at herself. If Arla were Muggle-born, she knew she would have done the exact same thing as Hermione, which irritated her since it proved further what people had been saying for years that she kept denying; that she and Hermione were, in some ways, very much alike. What really got to her though, much to her surprise, was that she now realized she sounded like a stereotypical Slytherin; prejudice against Hermione, thinking they shouldn't share the same classes, just because she was Muggle-born. Arla hated that stereotype about Slytherins; true, they had more members prejudiced against Muggles and Muggle-borns than any of the other houses, but surely all of the other houses right now had at least one member who was prejudiced too, except possibly Hufflepuff.

(In her mind Arla found it plausible that Hufflepuff had no prejudiced members, being as acceptance was their main quality; even the Sorting Hat said so. It was the only House that accepted anyone, regardless of who they were. That's not to say it was impossible for a Hufflepuff to be prejudiced, but Arla personally found it unlikely.) Besides, the majority of Slytherins didn't actually think that way; a fair percentage did, but the majority of the House did not.

An awkward silence hung in the atmosphere, which was broken by Daphne. "So, Hermione…. did you do anything special this summer?"

"Well, I went to Paris," Hermione was slightly taken aback by Daphne's use of her first name, being as they had never talked much to each other in the past and Slytherins generally referred to Gryffindors by their surname.

"Oh my God!"Daphne exclaimed."I went there last summer too! That was so much fun!"

"You didn't accidentally knock Astoria off of any high buildings again, did you?"Arla inquired wearily, remembering the tale Daphne had told her about her visit to Italy the summer before last.

"No," Daphne denied indignantly."There was an incident involving the Eiffel Tower where she came pretty _close_ to falling, but she never actually fell; I was able to catch her in time and pull her back up."

"Someone must be watching over your sister Daph," Arla sighed."For how often her life is endangered but she comes out okay. "

"Wait, you weren't actually joking," Hermione gaped at Daphne.

"Nope," Daphne replied."Have you seen a Slytherin first year girl with fair skin, long black hair, and one blue eye and one green eye and somewhat resembles me? Her name's Astoria Greengrass."

Hermione thought for a moment."I seem to recall you running up and hugging a girl by that name and proudly declaring she was your sister and had been Sorted into Slytherin. "

"Yeah, well that's her, and last summer when we went to Paris at one point she was leaning out a bit over the railing of the Eiffel Tower to see the city better- the sun was rather bright that day- and I ran up to her to tell her something and tapped her on the shoulder. Well, she hadn't seen or heard me coming, and she kind of started to fall over the edge in surprise... but she caught onto the railing from the other side and I helped pull her over. No one was hurt."

"Is it true you tried to smuggle her into school last year?"Hermione inquired, somewhat nervous at the prospect of unearthing the answer.

"Oh yes, you see what happened was…"Daphne proceeded to tell the whole story to Hermione, who was fairly disturbed by the end of it. During this time, Neville had showed up, as well as Ernie Macmillan, Sally-Anne Perks, Susan Bones, Wayne Hopkins, Stephen Cornfoot, Lisa Turpin, and Anthony Goldstein. Regardless of when they arrived, anyone who had overheard Daphne's recollection was staring at her strangely, even the last person to arrive. An awkward silence fell once Daphne concluded her recollection. A minute later the Muggle Studies professor, Charity Burbage, arrived.

The students entered the classroom and chose seats. Needless to say, everyone except Arla chose to sit far away from Daphne after hearing that story, fearful she may slip _them_ some Sleeping Potion too.

"Good morning, I am Professor Burbage. I hope you all had a nice summer vacation. Here is a list of some activities we will be doing this year in Muggle Studies that we shall read together." Here Professor Burbage Summoned the papers to all the students in the room. Daphne and Arla looked over their papers. Some of what was on the list include:

Watching Muggle films and TV shows; students may suggest a film or television program to watch if they desire to do so.(Don't worry; you will soon understand what these things are.)

Reading Muggle literature.

Researching and occasionally writing essays about Muggle customs and lifestyles.

Practicing scenarios about situations that frequently occur in the Muggle world but not the wizarding world. (By the end of this year you will all learn how to screw in a light bulb, which will be part of your final exam.)

Learning about various Muggle cultures and comparing them to our society.

There were several more items on the list, and all the while Daphne and Arla could not help but think they were going to enjoy this class very much, and wondered momentarily what Tracey was doing in Ancient Runes.

**S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S~S**

Tracey and Theo both had walked together to Ancient Runes, talking more about Tracey's writing and art work up until class started. The class was taught by a rather friendly woman named Professor Babbling. The students in the class, apart from Tracey and Theo, were: Hermione Granger, Hannah Abbot, Mandy Brocklehurst, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot. At the end of class, Professor Babbling gave them their first ever homework assignment: Read pages 5-12 in the textbook by next class. She talked to them about Runes and information, while they took notes after she gave them a list of guidelines for class. They did a couple of translations in class which Tracey found both confusing and fascinating at the same time.

As Tracey left class to go to her next lesson, she found herself thinking that perhaps she would not regret not choosing to take Muggle Studies, after all she liked her classmates and the teacher seemed nice. She and Theo soon encountered Daphne and Arla in the hall. "How was Muggle Studies?"

"Good. "Both girls replied at once.

"Who's in your class? "Asked Tracey.

Arla listed off the names of the class members immediately, but when she got to Hermione both Theo and Tracey got very confused.

"Wait a moment, "Theo interjected." She was in our Ancient Runes class; she couldn't be in your Muggle Studies class. How did-"

"Miss Greengrass," A silky voice cut off Theo and the four Slytherins turned around to face Professor Snape.

"Yes Sir?" Daphne wondered what he could possibly be asking her about.

"I have a couple of things I wish to discuss with you, "he informed her. "The first is that I heard about this morning's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Have you recovered?"

"Yes Sir," Daphne assured him quickly.

Snape gave a nod of approval. "The second is that I had a _very_ interesting Potions class this morning with the first years."

"Oh?" This seemed the only safe response to make; Snape's voice was at its quietest, which was never a good sign.

"Yes," Snape continued." All of my Slytherin students except for your sister seemed to be under the impression that I am, in their exact words "The Voice of God."

Theo, who had not heard this before, promptly burst into a fit of laughter at this, which he stifled immediately upon seeing the quelling look Snape was giving him.

"When I inquired as to why they had such an idea, they informed me a certain source had told them as such. Now who do you think may have told them such a thing, Miss Greengrass?"

"Erm…"Daphne decided now was the time to confess. "I did Professor, but I didn't think they would actually take me seriously! What did they do, did they hug you when you entered the room?"

"Oh, they did more than that," Snape replied and, Daphne was somewhat relieved to note, had an amused smirk adorning his face. "The instant I entered the room, they fell to their knees, started bowing down to me, and after I asked them as to why they were partaking in this practice, they addressed me as if I were holy."

"That…is rather disturbing, "Daphne opinionated. "That your younger students are so gullible. Just for clarification, Astoria didn't join in, did she?"

"No, evidently it appears as if your sister is much more intelligent than her classmates, "Snape answered. "It may interest you to know that when I asked if there was any relation between you two, she answered to the affirmative but stated that you two were nothing alike in terms of personality. "

Arla, Tracey, and Theo were unable to contain their laughter this time.

."…That... is so funny I am not even offended by that comment…" Neither apparently, could Daphne .

"Yeah, no offense Daph, but I would have said the same thing, "Arla chocked. "It's not exactly a good first impression to claim to be just like the girl who played a prank on her naive classmates. "

"In either event, classes start in five minutes, so if I were you I would go to your next class now." Professor Snape advised.

"Yes Sir, "All four of them chorused and ran off to their next class while Professor Snape pondered the future of his easily swayed younger students.

**A/N: And from that moment on, Astoria Greengrass became Snape's favorite student in her year… because she wsa the only intelligent Slytherin in her year, jk. Also, Snape's going to be portrayed in a much more positive light here than in the books because he always favors the Slytherins so most of them like him and get along well with him. Please review!:D **


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